As a result of their deliberations committees may make recommendations which they include in their reports for the consideration of the House of Commons or the Government. Recommendations related to this study are listed below.

Recommendation 1

A pinniped harvest continue to be ethical, humane, sustainable, regionally specific and economically beneficial, bolstered by a certification and membership program that reflects these values and backed by severe penalties for non-compliance.

Recommendation 2

All applicable federal government departments work with provincial governments to promote maximum utilization of the harvested resource through processing and supply chain alignment.

Recommendation 3

DFO review and, as needed, update its funding mechanisms, such as the Atlantic Fisheries Fund, and pursue opportunities to work with funding partners to support capacity building in Canada’s sealing industry.

Recommendation 4

An all-of-government program be rapidly implemented by Canada for the national and international promotion of the ethical, humane and sustainable seal hunt to restore the reputation of Canadian sealers and to remove international trade and public perception barriers to harvests of pinniped resources.

Recommendation 5

In light of the economic and cultural harms on Indigenous peoples as a result of misinformation campaigns around pinniped harvesting and the resulting ban of the EU importation of Canadian pinniped products, that all possible measures are taken by the Government of Canada to re-establish international markets as a means of economic and cultural reconciliation.

Recommendation 6

Federal and provincial governments collaborate on enabling practical sealing rules and regulations that allow ease of entry for harvesters, harvesting and processing infrastructure, insurance coverage for vessels and promotional campaigns to ensure a sustainable industry.

Recommendation 7

Programs be launched to promote pinniped products (food, fur products, nutrition supplements, etc.) to Canadians and to international markets with a special focus on the benefits of such products in Canada’s foreign aid initiatives.

Recommendation 8

Deliver programming that promotes the generational transfer of pinniped harvesting skills and skills development for professional harvesters.

Recommendation 9

The DFO acknowledge and act on concerns of stakeholders, scientists, harvesters and Indigenous bodies that the population of most pinnipeds have expanded to points of imbalance in certain regions, with negative impacts on fisheries and livelihoods.

Recommendation 10

The Government of Canada prioritize the timely collection and the timely, consistent and public reporting of regionally specific scientific data on pinniped populations, the predator-prey relationship between pinnipeds and other species, seasonal variations in pinniped range and diets, and the impact of climate change on pinniped populations including breeding and feeding habits and habitats.

Recommendation 11

The collection and assessment of scientific data and the resulting fisheries management decisions be informed by Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishers’ local knowledge and observations.

Recommendation 12

The Government of Canada recognize the increased costs of research in the Arctic and take necessary steps to provide the resources needed for comprehensive data collection, including the mobilization of communities in that effort.

Recommendation 13

Given the complexity of marine food webs, DFO deliver their purported utilization of an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries and pinniped management that includes consideration of predator-prey relationships and the interconnection between species.

Recommendation 14

Meaningful consultation with those ‘out on the water’ including fishers, pinniped harvesters, processors and holders of Indigenous traditional knowledge and coastal communities must be incorporated in the decision-making process for management measures.

Recommendation 15

Pinniped management must be agile and responsive to location-specific factors along each of Canada’s three coasts, including impact on the sustainability of prey populations and climate-change driven changes in migratory patterns, behaviours, and diet of predators and prey.

Recommendation 16

Taking steps to reduce pinniped predation of salmonid and other prey species made vulnerable at ‘pinch points’ in all Canadian waters including fish ladders, hatcheries and at the mouth of tributaries (especially where log booms are positioned) through consultation with companies and agencies responsible for them and, if necessary, through a targeted harvest of ‘specialist’ pinnipeds, building on the conservation success achieved in other jurisdictions such as Washington and Oregon States and Norway.

Recommendation 17

Consult with Canadian and American harvesters and Indigenous fishers on a bilateral strategy to address pinniped predation of fish stocks that provides the public with a clear, accurate picture of the impact of regional instances of pinniped overpopulation, measures to address this issue that are demonstrably ethical, humane and sustainable, do not draw US Marine Mammal Protection Act sanctions and include a mechanism to evaluate results in terms of the overall health of monitored fish stocks.