FLEUR DE LYS, N.L. —
Natasha Rideout swears to the health benefits of seal oil.
About eight years ago, while in university, she was doing a lot of running.
“I was running way too much and my cartilage completely broke down," she said.
Doctors prescribed surgery.
Her father, Brad, an inshore fisher from the North East coast of Newfoundland, suggested something else. He advised his daughter to take seal oil.
Rideout admits she resisted the idea at first, but then decided it was worth a try. She wasn’t really keen on having knee surgery.
“The cartilage built back up. I’ve been on it ever since, twice a day. And I never had the surgery," she told SaltWire.
That experience set her to wondering about the health benefits of seal oil and other products.
About five years ago she and her father, Brad, teamed up with other partners to form Phocalux International Inc. to produce seal oil for the pharmaceutical industry.
In the past two years they’ve produced about 500 tonnes of oil at their facility in Fleur de Lys. Most of it is sent to an Ontario company to be turned into seal oil capsules and sold in the vitamin aisle on pharmacy shelves.
Seal oil is full of Omega 3, a fatty acid considered by many to have health benefits. Although studies on the benefits of Omega 3 have not been conclusive, Americans alone spend about $1 billion a year on over-the-counter fish oil products.
Rideout says the company is also exploring the potential for other health products from seal meat.
They’re already producing a powder, from dried seal meat, used in products that help boost circulation. It’s a base ingredient in Viagra, Rideout said.
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“We’re just doing small batches now, but we could do it on a larger scale with the right equipment,” she said.
She’s also experimenting with a product using seal oil as a main ingredient, to treat dry skin and psoriasis. She’s not willing to say too much about that right now, because the test product is not ready for market. But she’s fairly confident she is on track for a product that could also find its way to the pharmaceutical aisle.
She adds the company has gotten some support along the way, with funding from the Atlantic Fisheries Fund to help set up the operation, as well as funding for product research, and research assistance from a couple of universities in Atlantic Canada.
New product development does take time, though.
“It’s quite a process,” she said, involving development, testing and all the necessary paperwork to meet government regulations.
Rideout seems determined, however, to push ahead in the industry.
“I can see where it can go (as a health product),” she said. “For me it (seal oil) has done wonders. And the more product I discover, the more encouraged I get.”
Challenges
One of the most daunting challenges of all, of course, is the public perception of the seal industry.
Rideout suggests while it might be impossible to change the minds of those staunchly opposed to the industry, changing the conversation on seal products could help. Focus on the health benefits of seal oils and meat, she said.
Currently more than a dozen countries around the world buy seal products from Canada.
The Asian market, in particular, has consumers willing to purchase. However, one of the biggest Asian markets of all— China —is not on the list. And it’s not because China doesn’t want seal products, said Dion Dankins, Chief Executive Office of Carino Ltd. Up until 10 years ago, China was buying seal from Canada.
According to Dakins the only thing that's halting the trade of seals to China is the Canadian government, specifically the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Dakins told SaltWire the change happened about 10 years ago, with the government of Stephen Harper. According to Dakins, in 2010 then fisheries minister Gail Shea added her initials in support of a cooperative arrangement between Canada and China for the export of seal products to that country.
A final agreement was never signed, however.
Dakin explained, “Canada and China did a standard Food Safety Agreement, like they do for every single product. It went through that phase. We went through the auditing processes phase to make sure our processing facilities and processes here in Newfoundland were compliant and could export to China.”
Then political fear set in, he says, when animal rights groups began lobbying against the export of seals.
The ‘arrangement’ with China never evolved to a formal agreement.
“While there is a technical agreement and a code of practice for production, transport and handling of seal products there is no formal agreement, so we can’t (supply) a Canada Food Inspection Agency ‘origin and hygiene’ certificate,” said Dakin. The Canadian government refuses to issue them. And without those certificates, China won’t buy.
“Very few people are willing to stock their neck out to save it (seal industry),” he said.
Changing the conversation
With seals numbering in the millions — the harp seal population alone is estimated at 7.5 million — Dakins also said it’s time to change the conversation.
Recent videos captured by Newfoundland fishers, showing seal stomachs full of snow crab and small cod, have been a catalyst driving debate about the impact the animals are having on other fish stocks. Some from the inshore fishing industry have been calling for a seal cull. Even some Newfoundland politicians have mentioned the word.
Both Rideout and Dakins said ‘cull’ is not the right word, nor the best answer.
Rideout said she could never agree with killing seals for the sake of killing them.
She’s of the opinion that any seals taken have to have a purpose, used to make products that consumers want.
Dakins agrees.
He also thinks that the recent videos showing the contents of seal stomachs is an excellent opportunity to start changing the public perception.
“We need to embrace … that seals are having a negative impact on fisheries,” he said.
In his opinion, Fisheries and Oceans and the Canadian government needs to push that narrative, and advocate for the seal industry.
“The saving grace is a lot of countries do value Canadian seafood from the pristine environment of the North Atlantic, and perhaps with this new ‘understanding’,” he offers with an undertone of sarcasm, “that seals eat fish … maybe under that spotlight there’s a path forward.”
In addition, he said, it’s time for the federal government to pay attention, to listen to what the industry and fishers are telling them.
“I’d early like to see an invitation by government to a series of strategy sessions. Start with a clean slate and look at the realities of what’s going on, ask more questions instead of giving answers.
“DFO is too quick to respond that everything is okay.”
He reflects on the collapse of the northern cod stock and the unheeded warnings from inshore fish harvesters to DFO years before the moratorium was finally declared in 1992.
Dakins sees history repeating in the stomachs of the seals.
“This scenario is not a heck of a lot different,” he said. “It’s pretty much exactly the same. The observations of those who are close to the coastline … who are close to the water every day . . . people like Brad Rideout and Keith Bath who are opening up seal stomachs, they’re being dismissed far too quickly.”
Barb Dean-Simmons is a business reporter for the SaltWire Network.
[email protected]
Twitter: @BarbDeanSimmons
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