Exactly. Your entire post is very well said.
You know, I'm not against all animal harvest; I like steak and lobster as much as the next guy. And I am quite aware that we as a species are certainly not saints when it comes to our treatment of even those animals we breed for food. But we HAVE to draw a line somewhere. If we can't in such an obvious and self-evident case of brutal cruelty as this, then what does that make us?
Don't believe that crap about "prtecting the fish stocks", either. The seals do not eat anywhere nearly as many as are caught every year. The reason that the fishermen are having lower catches is that THEY overfish their grounds. Now, to make up the difference caused by their OWN overfishing, they're wastefully and brutally killing yet ANOTHER species. Sickening.