History of seal skin sporrans

**Midsmed** · 28th July 09, 11:16 PM

from Sweden

**The Guy in the Kilt at UC** · 29th July 09, 01:28 AM

Why exactly is seal skin illegal?

**Phil** · 29th July 09, 02:41 AM

I certainly don't wish to invite controversy and my post was simply questioning that there was ever any indigenous Scottish sealing industry.
The Scottish sealing industry that I am aware of was mainly centred on Dundee and operated around Newfoundland in conjunction with the whalers from that city but I believe it became unprofitable for them by the late 1800's although whaling continued until fairly recent times.
The ban on killing seals in their first few days of life is no doubt the reason why seal fur for fly-tying became unobtainable after the early 1970's.
I assume, therefore, that any sporrans made with seal fur are from older animals and that this source too is shortly to be rendered illegal in Europe as it is already in the United States. Does anyone know the position in Canada?
Fit2BKilted mentions that adult sealskins are a valuable commodity and that the Innuit people use them for clothing which I was aware of. The question that wasn't answered, however, is are there any other significant uses for sealskin beyond Innuit clothing and sporans?

**Woodsheal** · 29th July 09, 06:43 AM

Leaving aside indigenous hunting and usage by native peoples, according to Wikipedia the main market for seal hides during the height of commercial sealing (early 1800s) was China. (It's not stated why the demand was so high in China, or what they used the skin for. Clothing items, I suspect.)
Anyways, with the vast majority of sealskins being exported to the Far East market, perhaps they were fairly scarce in Scotland. Would sealskin then be considered a "luxury item," and a sealskin sporran a status symbol?

**slohairt** · 29th July 09, 06:49 AM

I've always wondered if the waterproof nature of the fur had something to do with it's use. After all, the western Highlands receive quite a bit of rain.

**Fit2BKilted** · 29th July 09, 11:18 AM

Originally Posted by Phil

The question that wasn't answered, however, is are there any other significant uses for sealskin beyond Innuit clothing and sporans?

Seal-flesh remains a dietary staple in the High North of Canada---that's what makes it a 'valuable commodity'; and consequently, I don't expect that the pelts fetch a very high price at source ($80-$100)... However, seal-pelts are also used in the luxury coat industry AFAIK, and I would love to get one for myself someday. There does not appear to be any indication that Sealing will be outlawed in Canada anytime in the foreseeable future... I'm sure the northern territories would secede before submitting to such a "southern" notion (and the southerners, myself included, would be powerless to enforce it upon them, given the incredible area, absolutely sparce population, and the fact that virtually all access to habitation is fly-in only.)

This is getting really off-topic, sorry.

**Fit2BKilted** · 29th July 09, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by The Guy in the Kilt at UC

Why exactly is seal skin illegal?

To be honest, IMHO there is NO reason, other than some fringe animal rights groups needed a new cause-celebre back in the 1970's, and they jumped at the opportunity to "defend" a very "cute" animal from the "barbarism" that is subsistence-hunting. This was made all-too-easy by the short-sighted and ignorant White hunters who were capitalizing on the fur-market, and took to harvesting seals indiscriminately before there were any hunting regulations on the species (correct me if I'm wrong). Footage of wholesale slaughter of the relatively helpless (out of the water) aquatic creatures for their pelts, with their corpses left to rot in pools of blood on the ice-floes made for "great TV" which culminated in the European Ban this year.

It is my belief that this would not have been an issue if non-subsistence hunters had been banned in the first-place, as the Inuit would then have been handed a monopoly on the production of seal-pelts, and the scarcity of supply would have driven the price up high-enough that they would be in a more advantageous economic position---provided they had the sense to form a seal-pelt co-op that would bargain for the best prices on their behalf---to increase their standard of living (which is nonetheless still higher than that of many "southern" Native Americans AFAIK). I won't get into the other social factors that plague the Northern Peoples (viz., religious evangelism, residential schooling, lack of social infrastructure, etc., etc.) because I've flown too close to the sun already.

**DWFII** · 30th July 09, 01:17 PM

Fit2,

I agree with you but please be careful...I sense a taboo in the offing. This is quicksand.

**Woodsheal** · 30th July 09, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by DWFII

Fit2,

I agree with you but please be careful...I sense a taboo in the offing. This is quicksand.

Doen't need to be, unless someone from the ranks of the "easily offended" rears their head. Fit2's posts have been very measured and informative, IMHO....

**DWFII** · 30th July 09, 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by Woodsheal

Doen't need to be, unless someone from the ranks of the "easily offended" rears their head. Fit2's posts have been very measured and informative, IMHO....

Well, I haven't been here as long as you have but there are a lot of "easily offended" lurking in the shadows...no matter where you go. I have been at a loss to see where a thread went wrong on many an occasions even when it was explained to me.

And I agree with you as well--I haven't been offended by anything said in this thread so far but then I've got pretty thick skin.