FT 14.25 – Please Don't Club Seals Act (Final vote)

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to our great region's seal population

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF FRÉMONT RESOLVED.

Section 1, TITLE.
i. The title of this Act shall be, the "Please Don't Club Seals Act."
ii. "Inuit" refers to an indigenous person who is a member of an aboriginal tribe in Alaska and/or northern Canada.
iii. "Seal" refers to all species of pinniped residing in the Commonwealth of Frémont, including walruses.
iv. "Seal clubbing" (also referred to as "sealing" or "seal hunting") refers to the hunting, either personal or commercial, of pinnipeds.

Section 2, REGULATION.
i. No individual, whether for commercial intent or personal pleasure, shall participate in seal hunting within the Commonwealth of Frémont.
ii. In addition, no person, whether for commercial intent or personal pleasure, shall injure or cause great bodily harm to a seal within the Commonwealth of Frémont.
iii. Any individual caught violating either subsection (i) or subsection (ii) shall be subject to either one year of imprisonment or a fine up to $28,520 dollars, of which 90% of the money shall go to the state government, and 10% shall go to the Commonwealth of Frémont.

Section 3, EXCEPTIONS.
i. An individual may participate in sealing if they are an Inuit.
ii. All Inuits who wish to participate in sealing must seek permission from their local government in order to perform the practice.
iii. If an Inuit successfully gains permission from their local government to participate in seal hunting, they are exempt from Section 2 of this act.
iv. If an Inuit does not successfully gain permission from their local government to participate in seal hunting, they are not exempt from and are subject to Section 2 of this act.

Section 4, ENACTMENT CLAUSE.
i. This act shall take effect the next November 15 after final enactment by the legislature of Frémont.

Sponsor: Koopa Da Quick

The member from Iowa has the floor.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Thank you, Mr. First Minister. I shall respond to your seal act with one of my own.

Clubbing seals is bad. I think we all agree on this. Brutally mutilating seals for commercial gain is a practice that needs to halt.

However, the practice of sealing is a tradition ingrained in Inuit culture. If we establish a universal ban, then it's likely that the Inuits of Alaska would be furious. So, in order to appease them, I have established a clause allowing Inuits to participate.

I would like to hear what my fellow parliamentarians think, and so I yield the floor.

[PSOL]

Are seals threatened by extinction? I would be all for the end of clubbing seals for those from cultures who traditionally don’t hunt that way, but I disagree that if not threatened by the opening up of hunting restrictions, what is the harm of hunting a seal over any other animal.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Are seals threatened by extinction? I would be all for the end of clubbing seals for those from cultures who traditionally don’t hunt that way, but I disagree that if not threatened by the opening up of hunting restrictions, what is the harm of hunting a seal over any other animal.

I decided to do a little research. Of the major seal species in Alaska:

Ringed seal - Least Concern
Harbor seal - Least Concern
Bearded seal - Least Concern
Spotted seal - Least Concern
Northern fur seal - Vulnerable
Walrus - Vulnerable
Steller sea lion - Near Threatened
Ribbon seal - Least Concern
California sea lion - Least Concern

These statuses are according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

[PSOL]

A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to our great region's seal population

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF FRÉMONT RESOLVED.

Section 1, TITLE.
i. The title of this Act shall be, the "Please Don't Club Seals Act."
ii. "Inuit" refers to an indigenous person who is a member of an aboriginal tribe in Alaska and/or northern Canada.
iii. "Seal" refers to all species of pinniped residing in the Commonwealth of Frémont, including walruses.
iv. "Seal clubbing" (also referred to as "sealing" or "seal hunting") refers to the hunting, either personal or commercial, of pinnipeds traditionally done by the indigenous people of Alaska.
v. Endangered shall mean the definitions of a threatened fauna population by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species
Section 2, REGULATION.
i. No individual, whether for commercial intent or personal pleasure, shall participate in seal huntingseal clubbing within the Commonwealth of Frémont.
ii. In addition, no person, whether for commercial intent or personal pleasure, shall injure or cause great bodily harm to an endangered seal within the Commonwealth of Frémont.
iii. Any individual caught violating either subsection (i) or subsection (ii) shall be subject to either one year of imprisonment or a fine up to $28,520 dollars, of which 90% of the money shall go to the state government, and 10% shall go to the Commonwealth of Frémont.

Section 3, EXCEPTIONS.
i. An individual may participate in sealing if they are an Inuit.
ii. All Inuits who wish to participate in sealing must seek permission from their local government in order to perform the practice.
iii. If an Inuit successfully gains permission from their local government to participate in seal hunting, they are exempt from Section 2 of this act.
iv. If an Inuit does not successfully gain permission from their local government to participate in seal hunting, they are not exempt from and are subject to Section 2 of this act.

Section 4, ENACTMENT CLAUSE.
i. This act shall take effect the next November 15 after final enactment by the legislature of Frémont.

I think the above amendment fixes several concerns I have for this bill. Unless clubbed, I see no reason why it should be illegal to hunt seals for commercial usage. We don’t have this restriction on several other “less cute” animals, so why should there be any exception to seals.

[AustralianSwingVoter]

I find myself in total agreement with PSOL for once. Animals should be protected on merit, that is whether their continued existence and thriving is at risk. We shouldn't randomly protect a couple non-vulnerable species just because they look cute.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Good points. I support the member from Alaska's amendment.

[fhtagn]

Please don't use the term Inuit. Not all northern natives use that term, nor does the term Inuit actually apply to all of them. For example, my family is Alaskan Native, and we are Yupik, not Inuit. If the bill is going to have an exception allowing it for natives, it's best to go with terms like "native" or "indigenous tribal members".

[fhtagn]

Also substinence hunting is primarily handled federally:

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=subsistence.faqs

• Subsistence hunting and fishing on federal lands and waters is regulated by the Federal government under a state-federal co-management Memorandum of Understanding.
• The Federal Subsistence Board and Regional Advisory Councils are administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Subsistence Management.
• Subsistence hunting for sea otters, polar bears, and walrus is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
• Subsistence hunting for seals, sea lions, and whales is managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).
• Subsistence hunting for migratory waterfowl is co-managed by the state and federal government through the Alaska Migratory Bird Co-Management Council.
• Subsistence fishing for halibut is managed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) under the Restricted Access Management (RAM) Program.

[fhtagn]

Lastly, I would recommend looking into the Marine Mammal Protection Act, as I'm pretty sure it handles what this bill is trying to accomplish.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to our great region's seal population

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF FRÉMONT RESOLVED.

Section 1, TITLE.
i. The title of this Act shall be, the "Please Don't Club Seals Act."
ii. "Inuit" "Indigenous tribal member" refers to an indigenous person who is a member of an aboriginal tribe in Alaska and/or northern Canada.
iii. "Seal" refers to all species of pinniped residing in the Commonwealth of Frémont, including walruses.
iv. "Seal clubbing" (also referred to as "sealing" or "seal hunting") refers to the hunting, either personal or commercial, of pinnipeds traditionally done by the indigenous people of Alaska.
v. Endangered shall mean the definitions of a threatened fauna population by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species
Section 2, REGULATION.
i. No individual, whether for commercial intent or personal pleasure, shall participate in seal huntingseal clubbing within the Commonwealth of Frémont.
ii. In addition, no person, whether for commercial intent or personal pleasure, shall injure or cause great bodily harm to an endangered seal within the Commonwealth of Frémont.
iii. Any individual caught violating either subsection (i) or subsection (ii) shall be subject to either one year of imprisonment or a fine up to $28,520 dollars, of which 90% of the money shall go to the state government, and 10% shall go to the Commonwealth of Frémont.

Section 3, EXCEPTIONS.
i. An individual may participate in sealing if they are an Inuit indigenous tribal members.
ii. All Inuit indigenous tribal members who wish to participate in sealing must seek permission from their local government in order to perform the practice.
iii. If an Inuit indigenous tribal member successfully gains permission from their local government to participate in seal hunting, they are exempt from Section 2 of this act.
iv. If an Inuit does not successfully gain permission from their local government to participate in seal hunting, they are not exempt from and are subject to Section 2 of this act.

Section 4, ENACTMENT CLAUSE.
i. This act shall take effect the next November 15 after final enactment by the legislature of Frémont.

Amendment regarding fhtagn's concerns over language used.

By the way, it seems as though the chamber has a lot of questions and concerns over this bill, should the bill be tabled until a better bill can be presented?

[PSOL]

We’ve done far too much work to table this now, especially concerning the fact that what remains is the removal of a clause to be up to speed with the federal regulations and a few grammatical changes. I say keep going and let this be the last bill we pass under this session of Parliament.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I am opposed to tabling bills on principle. It seems to me that the proposed amendments handle the major concerns raised, in any case?

[OBD]

I have some concerns about this bill. Firstly, many seal species are not endangered, and native residents have maintained rough population equilibrium in seals for generations without these regulations - and to me there's no clear reason to regulate when there hasn't been any noticeable changes that would affect this equilibrium in the near future. Additionally, there's definitely an (admittedly minor) racist factor to this bill - so it's okay for indigenous tribal members to seal, but it's not okay for them to invite a non-indigenous friend to seal with them? If the MP from Iowa can further iterate why these reforms are needed, I'd be willing to back her bill - but as of now I don't see a reason to impose upon this niche industry.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I move for a vote, since it seems like there are no more amendments forthcoming.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Opening a vote.

Aye

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Aye

[OBD]

Present

[AustralianSwingVoter]

Aye

[Continential]

Present

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

Please Don't Club Seals Act
Frémont Parliament Bill 14.25 - Sponsored by KoopaDaQuick, MFP

	LAB	PAX	IND	TOTAL
Aye	1	1	1	3
Nay	0	0	0	0
Abstain	2	0	0	2
Not Present	0	0	0	0

	FF	TR	ML	UL	TOTAL
Aye	1	1	1	0	3
Nay	0	0	0	0	0
Abstain	0	0	1	1	2
Not Present	0	0	0	0	0

First Minister HARRY S TRUMAN of North Dakota (LAB/FF)
Mr. AUSTRALIANSWINGVOTER of Washington (IND/ML)
Mr. ISHAN of Guam (LAB/UL)
Ms. KOOPADAQUICK of Iowa (PAX/TR)
Mr. OREGON BLUE DOG of Oregon (LAB/ML)

With three ayes and two present votes from the freshmen, this bill passes.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

A BILL FOR AN ACT
relating to our great region's seal population

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PARLIAMENT OF FRÉMONT RESOLVED.

Section 1, TITLE.
i. The title of this Act shall be, the "Please Don't Club Seals Act."
ii. "Indigenous tribal member" refers to an indigenous person who is a member of an aboriginal tribe in Alaska and/or northern Canada.
iii. "Seal" refers to all species of pinniped residing in the Commonwealth of Frémont, including walruses.
iv. "Seal clubbing" (also referred to as "sealing" refers to the hunting, either personal or commercial, of pinnipeds traditionally done by the indigenous people of Alaska.
v. Endangered shall mean the definitions of a threatened fauna population by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

Section 2, REGULATION.
i. No individual, whether for commercial intent or personal pleasure, shall participate in seal clubbing within the Commonwealth of Frémont.
ii. In addition, no person, whether for commercial intent or personal pleasure, shall injure or cause great bodily harm to an endangered seal within the Commonwealth of Frémont.
iii. Any individual caught violating either subsection (i) or subsection (ii) shall be subject to either one year of imprisonment or a fine up to $28,520 dollars, of which 90% of the money shall go to the state government, and 10% shall go to the Commonwealth of Frémont.

Section 3, EXCEPTIONS.
i. An individual may participate in sealing if they are an indigenous tribal members.
ii. All indigenous tribal members who wish to participate in sealing must seek permission from their local government in order to perform the practice.
iii. If an Inuit indigenous tribal member successfully gains permission from their local government to participate in seal hunting, they are exempt from Section 2 of this act.
iv. If an Inuit does not successfully gain permission from their local government to participate in seal hunting, they are not exempt from and are subject to Section 2 of this act.

Section 4, ENACTMENT CLAUSE.
i. This act shall take effect the next November 15 after final enactment by the legislature of Frémont.