The Seal Hunt: Cultures, Economies and Legal Regimes by Nikolas Sellheim Published by Brill, 2018, 300 pp., €195.00, hardback.

• Date: 01 July 2020
• Author: Iyan Offor
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12341
• Published date: 01 July 2020

RECIEL. 2020;29:307–313.  

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  307wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/reel

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12341

BOOK REVIEWS

THE SEAL HUNT: CULTURES, ECONOMIES AND

LEGAL REGIMES by Nikolas Sellheim

Published by B rill, 2018, 300 pp. , €195.00, hardback.

The seal hunt has c aptured an inordinate am ount of public attention

over the last few dec ades compared with other pr evalent means of

animal exploit ation. Thus, it is a wonde r that a book like this new es-

sential legal an thropological work by Sell heim has not come before.

Sellheim set s out to present the ‘human dimen sion of the seal hunt’

(at ix). He succeeds in d oing so. The first par t of the book sets out

the sociocult ural value of seals and t he legal regimes that gover n

them. It is here, at t he book’s heart, t hat Sellheim’s anthropo cen-

tric narrati ve works best. The lat ter part of the book ex plores the

European Union’s (EU) seal regime, critiquing it from multiple angles.

This is fascinating, particularly where he provides insight into the

EU’s travaux préparatoires. However, Sellheim’s persuasiveness here

is harmed by his negl ect of popular counterarg uments and his light-

handed appro ach to the rich animal welf are literature availab le on

this topic.

Sellheim is self-aware of t he uphill battle his bo ok faces. He pres-

ents the human s ide of a debate which has seen a nimal advocates,

conservationists and sympathetic policymakers come out strongly

in favour of protec ting seals. However, Chapters 2 and 3 do wel l to

present reaso ns one might want to defend the seal hu nt. He shares

the sociocult ural significance of t he hunt and the – in places – ex-

tensive regulati on to which the hunts are subje ct. This works to add

gravitas to Sel lheim’s later arguments a bout the EU’s seal regime.

The regime, whic h bans the placing on the m arket of seal product s in

the EU (with exceptio ns for marine manageme nt hunts, indigenous

hunts and trave llers’ personal posse ssions), is more easily portr ayed

as flawed if it is intro duced in the context of a so cioculturally impo rt-

ant hunt that is responsibly regulated.

In Chapter 2, Sel lheim provides a reflec tion on mytholog y (in-

cluding storie s of Selkies and indigenous myt hs and legends), tradi-

tional prac tice and evolving commer cialization of the seal hu nt. He

also describe s the way the hunt adapts throug h periods of geologi-

cal change, war a nd market fluctuation as well a s how it has shaped

political, cu ltural and cosmolog ical identities of peo ples. His exam-

ination is broad , spanning hunts acro ss the Northern an d Southern

hemispheres . This is valuable contex t to this complex and conten -

tious sociolegal issue. Sellheim also usefully nuances the dichoto-

mization bet ween commercial hunts (t ypified as bruta l clubbing of

baby seals) and Inui t subsistence hunts (t ypified as respec tful and

culturally sig nificant use of a totemic sp ecies). For example, he notes

that the controver sial commercial Cana dian hunt is not carrie d out

by large firms or com panies anymore but , instead, is conduct ed by

individual fi shermen with small ves sels. He notes that the se al is

culturally significant beyond indigenous communities and that small

operators like t his equally depend on ‘m arine resources’ for th eir

livelihood.

In Chapter 3, Sell heim provides a histor ic insight into domestic ,

regional and inte rnational legal regimes that have gove rned or now

govern the seal hunt i n order to ‘manage dwindlin g stocks and to

ensure the contin uance of a thriving indus try’ (at 111). A particularly

useful secti on explores the appli cability of internat ional treaties to

seals (dating back t o the Jan Mayen Seal Fishery Treat y of 1875 be-

tween Germa ny, Great Britain, the Neth erlands, Norway, Russia an d

Sweden) and the patch work of international regulat ory regimes that

has developed sin ce and impacts upon t he seal hunt. Sellhei m’s anal-

ysis of the internat ional legal regimes th at govern the seal hunt re-

veals a strong inte rest in sustainable sealin g and conservation wi th

very littl e interest in welfare at th e international level . In parts of this

chapter, Sellheim wou ld have benefited from de pth over breadth.

For example, he di scusses the listing of diffe rent seal species in an-

nexes to the Convent ion on International Trade in En dangered

Species (CITE S). However, he does not elaborate o n enforcement

under that regim e or the impact of listin g on the conservation s tatus

of seals. The welf are provisions in CITES su ffer from partic ularly

poor enforceme nt which means that list ing in a CITES appendix d oes

not guarantee impact in practice.1 This potential for an enforcement

gap is also of concer n regarding the treat y’s primary conser vation

objectives. Sellheim also provides a comprehensive overview of do-

mestic legisl ation regulating seal h unts in the seal huntin g nations.

This covers regulations regarding conservation (permits, closed sea-

sons, etc.) and welfare (stunning, checking and bleeding procedures,

for example) as well a s countries lacking reg ulation, such as Russia.

He notes that only a m inority of States continu e to permit the ‘com-

mercial exploi tation of seals’ (at 213). However, he expre sses sur-

prise that most of t he legislation does no t deal with welfare or

condition hunt s on welfare requireme nts. He expected t hat because

the public deba te on sealing has centred on welfare , the legislation

would tackle t his issue. However, much of the legis lation Sellheim

covers predates t he popular ethical de bate about sealing. T hus, it

seems to me that thi s absence is precisely w hy there has been de-

bate in the firs t place.

 1Cf. M Bowman, ‘Con flict or Compat ibility: Th e Trade, Conserv ation and Anima l Welfare

Dimensions o f CITES’ (1998) 1 Journa l of Internation al Wildlife La w and Policy 9, 18.

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