Over the Side, Mickey

Patrick Colgan is the former executive director of the Canadian Museum
of Nature.

The spring seal hunt on the ice floes off Newfoundland is both deeply
embedded in the way of life on The Rock and emblazoned internationally
as a savage scandal. Each chapter of this “ sealer’s first hand
account” sketches a day in the harsh two weeks aboard the vessel or in
its speedboat among the floes. Only meatpackers and surgeons will not be
overwhelmed by the raw details of the slaughter and butchery. Woven into
the account are the equally brutal economic realities, the difficulty of
achieving even marginal profit for a crew with relatively high expenses,
and the disparity in prices given the Asian market for presumed
aphrodisiacs: “[F]our hundred pounds of meat brought six dollars. The
ten inch penis brought eighty.” Like life, the book is full of
contradictory emotions, especially the “thrill of the hunt,” spiced
with bitter humor, meanness, and compassion.

The roles of the various crew members, the brutal effectiveness of the
rifles and hakipiks, the very real dangers of the hunt, and the
conflicts engendered by its rules are all well presented. Encouraging
what Dwyer unblinkingly describes as the “appalling, unnecessary
carnage” is the deeply rooted belief that seals destroy “our
fish.” There is no general discussion of the hunt in any larger
setting, and little of Dwyer’s life beyond the two weeks.

For those seeking a report on the hunt, and not put off by the
prospect of wincing in their armchairs, this book is gripping reading.