2011 seal hunt one of the worst ever

Department of Fisheries and Oceans officials have confirmed that this seal hunting season has been the worst since the early 1990’s when the industry struggled to recover from a European ban on the importation of white pelts from young harp seals. The total number of harp seals killed in the 2011 commercial harvest was about 38,000 — less than 10 per cent of the allowable catch, set at 400,000. The industry’s latest slump is the result of a shrinking world market and poor ice conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the north coast of Newfoundland.