Following negotiations with the
Ministry of Fisheries, only two vessels took part in the 1997 Norwegian
seal hunt. For 150 years, the hunt for harp and hooded seals on the ice
fields had been a lucrative and important coastal industry, but today the
sealers are dependent on subsidies if they are to go sealing.
(Photo shows a Norwegian sealing vessel. Click to enlarge)
The Norwegian authorities support the continuation of sealing because they believe that it will one day become profitable again, and because it is considered a necessary part of the combined management of seal stocks and fisheries.
Shortly after World War I, when the sealing trade was at its peak, over 200 Norwegian sealing vessels took part in the harvest. The Norwegian Arctic harvest was concentrated around the Jan Mayen area (the western ice fields), Newfoundland and the White Sea, where hooded and harp seals have been the most important species.
Norwegian participation in the harvest off Newfoundland began in 1914 and ended in 1982, when Canada closed its 200 mile zone to foreign sealing vessels.
The harvest includes both adult seals and pups, but in recent years it has been the furs from pups that have been of the greatest economic importance. In response to the protests against the hunt, in 1989 Norway banned the harvest of pups less than a year old, but this ban was later amended to cover only suckling pups. Harp seal pups are left by their mothers as early as 12 days after birth. Seal pups can be killed either with a spiked club, or hakapik, or a rifle. For adult seals, the use of a rifle is compulsory, and afterwards the animal's skull must be smashed with a hakapik to ensure that it is dead. There is an inspector on board each vessel whose job it is to make sure that quotas and legal killing methods are observed.
Norway and Russia have appointed a joint sealing commission that sets quotas and divides them between the two countries, but in 1997, for the first time in many years, no Russian vessels took part in the hunt on the western ice fields. Quotas for the western ice fields are allocated in accordance with recommendations made by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES)
The 1997 quotas for the western ice fields amount to 13,100 adult harp seals and 9,000 adult hooded seals. Up to half the quota can be taken in the form of weaned pups, with two pups being considered the equivalent of one adult.
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