Canada's fisheries minister said Thursday 270,000 harp seals would be killed in its annual commercial hunt, deemed "the largest marine mammal massacre in the world" by animal rights groups.

　　The harvest is down 65,000 from last year due to "poor ice conditions" in seal breeding grounds in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, Minister Loyola Hearn said in a statement.

　　Up to 20 percent of the Atlantic herd usually nests on thick ice floes in the southern Gulf region in February or March. But this year authorities and animal rights groups found only slush and ice fragments too small to support a newborn pup.

　　Ice floes in the northern Gulf and around Newfoundland province where most of the seal hunting occurs remain in "good" condition, the minister said.

　　"We realize mortality will be higher than normal this year (in the southern Gulf)," a fisheries official said. "The ice continues to deteriorate, but there are seals there."

　　In the past three years, one million seals have been killed in the commercial hunt in eastern Canada. Demonstrators in Europe and Canada have denounced the "cruelty" of seal hunting.

　　But Ottawa maintains the hunt poses no threat to the seal population. "This year's quota will not pose any long-term threat to the herd," a fisheries official said.

　　"These decisions are guided by principles of conservation. I also want to ensure that the people who depend on this resource for their livelihood will benefit from it over the long-term," said Minister Hearn.

　　The Atlantic seal population has ballooned over the past three decades to almost 5.5 million, he said. Opening dates for the 2007 seal hunt will be announced in the coming days, the minister said.

　　中文：

　　加拿大漁業部長于3月29日宣布，該國漁民將會在今年的年度商業捕獵活動中殺死總共27萬只格陵蘭海豹，而在一些動物保護組織成員看來，這一行動堪稱“當今世界上對于海洋哺乳動物的最大規模的屠殺”。

　　據法新社3月29日報道，加拿大漁業部長洛約拉赫恩在一份聲明中表示，該國圣勞倫斯海灣地區的南部是海豹的主要繁殖地，由于目前那里“海上浮冰的狀況非常糟糕”，所以今年確定的獵殺數量較之去年減少了6.5萬只。

　　在那些生活于大西洋水域的海豹群體里，選擇在圣勞倫斯海灣地區的大塊厚浮冰上筑窩產崽者所占的比例高達20％。但該國有關當局以及動物保護組織今年在那里卻僅僅看到了正在融化的雪塊和零散的碎冰塊，它們的面積實在太小以至于無法為海豹幼崽提供一個合適的棲息環境。

　　不過這位部長還表示，圣勞倫斯海灣地區的北部以及紐芬蘭省周邊地區的浮冰現狀“尚屬良好”，而對海豹的捕殺大部分都發生在上述兩地。

　　該國漁業部一位官員說：“我們很清楚今年（圣勞倫斯海灣地區南部）海豹的死亡率會高于正常水平，海上浮冰的情況繼續趨于惡化，但我們還是仍然可以在那里見到海豹的身影。”

　　在過去3年里，總共已有100萬只生活在加拿大東部地區的海豹死于商業捕獵活動中。來自于歐洲和加拿大的示威者在最近數周里對于這種“殘忍”的捕殺海豹的行為給予了嚴厲的譴責。

　　但加拿大政府依然堅持認為上述獵殺舉動不會對海豹的數量構成威脅。漁業部一位官員聲稱“今年制定的捕殺配額將不會對海豹群體形成任何長期性的負面影響。”

　　洛約拉赫恩表示：“這些獵捕決定都是在有關動物保護的原則指導下做出的。我還希望能夠使那些依靠海豹來維持生計的人們相信，他們可以從此種舉動中獲取長期的收益。”

　　赫恩同時還補充說，大西洋地區海豹的總量在過去30年里已經快速增長到了550萬只。按照這位部長的說法，2007年海豹捕殺行動的開始日期將會在今后數天內對外公布。