Newfoundland & Labrador - Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island - page 403

or clubbed and left on the ice to suffer until the sealers come back later and finish
the job.
Is the seal population sustainable? The Canadian government says yes, and sets
the yearly quota based on the total seal population in the area (estimated at 7.3
million). For 2013, the harp seal quota was 400,000. The 2012 quota was the
same. Activists say the quotas don't take into account the actual number of seals
killed in the hunt, such as those that are 'struck and lost,' or discarded because of
pelt damage.
Is the seal hunt really an important part of the local economy? Activists say no,
that it represents a fraction of Newfoundland's income. The province disagrees,
saying for some sealers it represents up to one-third of their annual income. And in
a province with unemployment near 12%, that's significant.
In 2009 the European Union banned the sale of seal products, which hurt the in-
dustry considerably. For further details on the two perspectives, see the websites
of the Canadian Sealers Association ( www.sealharvest.ca ) and the Humane Society
of the United States ( www.protectseals.org ) .
TOP OF CHAPTER
Gros Morne National Park
This national park ( 709-458-2417; www.pc.gc.ca/grosmorne ; adult/child/family per day
$9.80/4.90/19.60) stepped into the world spotlight in 1987, when Unesco granted it World
Heritage designation. To visitors, the park's stunning flat-top mountains and deeply in-
cised waterways are simply supernatural playgrounds. To geologists, this park is a blue-
print for the planet and supplies evidence for theories such as plate tectonics. Specific-
ally, the bronze-colored Tablelands are made of rock that comes from deep within the
earth's crust. Nowhere in the world is such material as easily accessed as in Gros Morne
(it's usually only found at unfathomable ocean depths). Such attributes have earned the
park its 'Galapagos of Geology' nickname.
There is enough to do in and around the park to easily fill several days. The hiking,
kayaking, camping, wildlife-spotting and boat tours are fantastic.
Several small fishing villages dot the shoreline and provide amenities. Bonne Bay
swings in and divides the area: to the south is Rte 431 and the towns of Glenburnie ,
Woody Point and Trout River ; to the north is Rte 430 and Norris Point , Rocky Har-
bour , Sally's Cove and Cow Head . Centrally located Rocky Harbour is the largest vil-