Seals, Stigma and Survival
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sealsandsurvival.bsky.social
Seals, Stigma and Survival
@sealsandsurvival.bsky.social
This project is funded by the Nordic Arctic Programme to explore solutions to the stigmatization of sealing in the EU | PI @danitaburke.bsky.social | survivingsealingstigma.com | www.sdu.dk/en/forskning/ans/research
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Our website is now live! Visit survivingsealingstigma.com to learn about the Nordic Arctic Programme/NAPA supported project "Seals, Stigma and Survival" (Start March 1st) & find updates on the project, info on our team & more #survivingsealingstigma @helenagonz.bsky.social @danitaburke.bsky.social
Seals, Stigma and Survival is a research project
@sdu.dk supported by NAPA (start March 2025). This project, and its team, will explore overcoming EU stigma of Arctic/northern sealing and sealers. Website coming soon! @danitaburke.bsky.social @helenagonz.bsky.social @cwswarstudies.bsky.social
Clarifying statement: The report focuses ONLY on the EU failure to raise awareness of its fitness check amongst the Greenlandic PUBLIC to get public participation esp directly from hunters; a lost opportunity lamented by our Greenlandic hunter project participants @ec.europa.eu
New publication out now @sduarctic.bsky.social from the @cwswarstudies.bsky.social @sdu.dk project @sealsandsurvival.bsky.social on the @ec.europa.eu failure to engage the Greenlandic public for its fitness check on its trade in seal products regulations; call to engage now before report finalized
NEW PROJECT PUBLICATION! Acknowledging and Addressing the Absence of Greenlandic Input into the EUs 2024 Public Consultations on the Fitness of its Trade in Seal Products Regulations - www.sdu.dk/en/forskning... @ec.europa.eu @politico.eu @govofnunavut.bsky.social @cwswarstudies.bsky.social
December 1, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Hear from Juha Ylimaunu, expert in the evolution of Finland's relationship w/ seals & his work while based @helsinki.fi on the importance of seals and sealing to the evolution of Finnish settlements, culture and economic practices over a millennia & the impact of the #EU seal ban @ec.europa.eu
Interview with Juha Ylimaunu, expert in the Finnish human-cultural relationship
The interview with Juha Ylimaunu was conducted by PI Danita Burke remotely on November 13, 2025. If you would like to know more about Ylimaunu's work, you can access his dissertation - "Itämeren hylkeenpyyntikulttuurit ja ihminen–hylje -suhde" or "The sealing cultures and the human-seal relationship of the Baltic Sea". Is is published in Finnish on the University of Helsinki website…
survivingsealingstigma.com
November 27, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Check out our new discussion paper - Acknowledging and Addressing the Absence of Greenlandic Input into the EU’s 2024 Public Consultations on its Trade in Seal Products Regulations - authored by Danita Burke & Erik Kielsen w/ support from Kristina Svels, Helena Gonzales Lindberg & Jim Winter
New Discussion Paper – Acknowledging and Addressing the Absence of Greenlandic Input into the EU’s 2024 Public Consultations on the Fitness of its Trade in Seal Products Regulations
Check out the new Seals, Stigma and Survival discussion paper - "Acknowledging and Addressing the Absence of Greenlandic Input into the EU’s 2024 Public Consultations on the Fitness of its Trade in Seal Products Regulations" - available now on the SDU Arctic website. Authored by PI Danita Burke and SI Erik Kielsen and supported by the core project team of Kristina Svels, Helena Gonzales Lindberg and Jim Winter, the new discussion piece is an introductory piece that aims to spark a discussion about the European Union’s (EU) approach to consultations on the fitness of its trade in seal products regulations.
survivingsealingstigma.com
November 20, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Reposted by Seals, Stigma and Survival
New publication out now @sduarctic.bsky.social from the @cwswarstudies.bsky.social @sdu.dk project @sealsandsurvival.bsky.social on the @ec.europa.eu failure to engage the Greenlandic public for its fitness check on its trade in seal products regulations; call to engage now before report finalized
November 17, 2025 at 2:44 PM
NEW PROJECT PUBLICATION! Acknowledging and Addressing the Absence of Greenlandic Input into the EUs 2024 Public Consultations on the Fitness of its Trade in Seal Products Regulations - www.sdu.dk/en/forskning... @ec.europa.eu @politico.eu @govofnunavut.bsky.social @cwswarstudies.bsky.social
Acknowledging and Addressing the Absence of Greenlandic Input into the EU’s 2024 Public Consultations on the Fitness of its Trade in Seal Products Regulations
www.sdu.dk
November 17, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Interesting interview-Part 1-by award winning retired #TheBroadcastCBC journalist Jim Winter, founding president CSA w/ @mike49.bsky.social @coastalpeoplerpg.bsky.social. Thanks Mike for sharing your experiences. Part 2 soon! @fishingforsuccess.bsky.social @nichecanada.bsky.social @govnl.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Read Part 1 of SI Jim Winter’s interview with Mike Kehoe @mike49.bsky.social of @coastalpeoplerpg.bsky.social & hear about his time working for the Gov’t of NL @govnl.bsky.social & in the fisheries industry navigating the fallout for anti-sealing activism.
Part 1: SI Jim Winter’s interview with Mike Kehoe of the Coastal People Resource Protection Group
On October 9th, 2025 “Seals, Stigma and Survival” secondary investigator Jim Winter, a retired award winning CBC journalist, conducted an interview with Mike Kehoe. Kehoe previously worked for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador as a director of marketing support services navigating the province’s challenges with the fallout for anti-sealing activism on the fisheries industry. In his past roles Kehoe participated in backroom discussions with industry and government players across Canada, and engaged with local community members in rural and coastal Newfoundland and Labrador seeing in real-time the impacts of anti-sealing activism, federal and provincial responses and the first European ban (European Economic Community) on seal products in 1983 and activism against sealing thereafter.
survivingsealingstigma.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Reposted by Seals, Stigma and Survival
@nichecanada.bsky.social is fundraising! The organization is powered by volunteer labour but requires some funds to continue making research accessible, sparking critical conversations, and building a community of researchers and readers in environmental history and adjacent fields. Please chip in!
Help NiCHE Write the Next Chapter of Environmental History: 2025 Campaign
The Network in Canadian History and Environment is a not-for-profit public history organization dedicated to the dissemination of environmental history research in Canada and building a network of res...
fnd.us
November 3, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Seals, Stigma and Survival
Tusind tak Erik, Sara og #InnovationSouthGreenland! It was great working in partnership with you speaking with local hunters in Kalaallit Nunaat for the "Seals, Stigma and Survival" project @nichecanada.bsky.social @cwswarstudies.bsky.social @sduarctic.bsky.social @arcticcouncil.bsky.social
November 3, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Learn more about the primary research conducted in Kalaallit Nunaat/Greenland between July and October 2025 for 'Seals, Stigma and Survival' locally led by SI Erik Kielsen with PI Danita Burke. Thanks to Sara L. Jensen, Nordic Arctic Programme, Innovation South Greenland & CWS/SDU for their support
Kalaallit Nunaat/Greenland Fieldwork – July-October 2025
Seals, Stigma and Survival seeks to engage and reflect sealer/hunter/fisher views on the legacy of anti-sealing activism, the impacts of stigma against sealing and seal hunters, the implications of the European Union’s ban against the import of seal products based on moral objections to sealing for peoples on the ground and the importance of sealing to their cultures, economies and ecosystems.
survivingsealingstigma.com
November 3, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Highly recommended opportunity. We were able to use research from this archive as part of our project research. Many thanks #LaurierArchives @wilfridlaurieruni.bsky.social and all the best to funding applicants for this upcoming round! survivingsealingstigma.com/2025/09/07/a...
October 20, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Hear from Finnish sealer Jouni Heinikoski, a project observer, on CBC Radio's The Broadcast about the EU seal product ban.
Hear from Finnish sealer Jouni Heinikoski
Hear from Finnish sealer Jouni Heinikoski, a project observer, on CBC Radio's The Broadcast about the EU seal product ban.
survivingsealingstigma.com
October 6, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Learn more about the Ålandic perspective on local fisheries, including the impact of grey seals via a new LUKE report by Seals, Stigma and Survival SI Kristina Svels, project observer Viktor Eriksson and co-authors Linda Sundström and Pekka Salmi
New publication by SI Kristina Svels, observer Viktor Eriksson and others
Learn more about the Ålandic perspective on local fisheries, including the impact of grey seals.
survivingsealingstigma.com
October 2, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Seals, Stigma and Survival
Thanks @wilfridlaurieruni.bsky.social #LaurierArchives
for the chance to explore your holdings & reflect more on my @routledgebooks.bsky.social book "Cultural Violence, Stigma & the Legacy of the Anti-Sealing Movement" @cwswarstudies.bsky.social @sealsandsurvival.bsky.social @nichecanada.bsky.social
While reviewing recently collected material from the Laurier Archives, project PI Danita Burke has begun to question “was I wrong?” in her 2023 book on anti-sealing cultural violence. Here Burke discusses whether the situation has escalated to cultural & economic genocide
Cultural genocide, International Fund for Animal Welfare and the pursuit of an anti-sealing agenda
Was I wrong about cultural violence and the anti-sealing movement legacy?
survivingsealingstigma.com
September 30, 2025 at 5:31 PM
While reviewing recently collected material from the Laurier Archives, project PI Danita Burke has begun to question “was I wrong?” in her 2023 book on anti-sealing cultural violence. Here Burke discusses whether the situation has escalated to cultural & economic genocide
Cultural genocide, International Fund for Animal Welfare and the pursuit of an anti-sealing agenda
Was I wrong about cultural violence and the anti-sealing movement legacy?
survivingsealingstigma.com
September 28, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Fieldwork update: Talking with diplomats and advocates in Brussels about sealing traditions and economic importance, the EU ban and recent fitness check of the trade in seal products regulations, the impact of seals on marine ecosystems and ecosystem imbalances in the Arctic, sub-Arctic and Baltics
Fieldwork: EU – Brussels
Fieldwork update: Interviews in Brussels
survivingsealingstigma.com
September 16, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by Seals, Stigma and Survival
Would love to publish a version of this post on our website! We always publicize the Joan Mitchell Travel Award, and it is great to hear how it is used! (And support your project!)

Here's a post from the first one awarded to @jessicamdewitt.bsky.social in 2014! niche-canada.org/2014/06/18/l...
Laurier Archives: Destination for Environmental Historians
In early May 2014, I traveled to Waterloo, Ontario to conduct research at the Laurier Archives on the campus of Wilfrid Laurier University.  Earlier this year, I was awarded the inaugural Joan Mitchel...
niche-canada.org
September 8, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Research Recap: Archival research on anti-sealing/harvesting activism, #Greenpeace, #IFAW, impact on Northern Canadian economies and Canadian Indigenous communities and peoples at the Laurier Archives and Collections, Wilfrid Laurier University #SurvivingSealingStigma
Archival Research at Laurier Archives, Wilfrid Laurier University
Learn more about the archival research conducted at Laurier Archives on the environmental conservation movement in Canada, with a particular emphasis on Indigenous voices .and experiences with anti-sealing and anti-fur activism.
survivingsealingstigma.com
September 7, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by Seals, Stigma and Survival
The European Union excluded Greenland from public consultations on the EU seal product ban. Why?
The European Union excluded Greenland from public consultations on the EU seal product ban. Why?
The EU has failed to engage Greenlandic people in public consultations that are part of its review of its seal trade regulations.
theconversation.com
August 27, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Reposted by Seals, Stigma and Survival
The European Union excluded Greenland from public consultations on the EU #seal product ban. Why? theconversation.com/the-european... via @theconversation.com
The European Union excluded Greenland from public consultations on the EU seal product ban. Why?
The EU has failed to engage Greenlandic people in public consultations that are part of its review of its seal trade regulations.
theconversation.com
August 28, 2025 at 8:34 PM