Sealing is one of the traditional means of livelihood for people in the countries around the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic. The Norwegian seal hunt is based on harp seals. The stock is growing and the species is not threatened. The condition of the hooded seals in the West Ice being more uncertain, no commercial quota has been allocated for that stock since 2006. For 2009 a research quota of 400 hooded seals has been set.
Norwegian sealing takes place in the Barents Sea outside the mouth of the White Sea, in Russia’s economic zone (the East Ice), and off Greenland (the West Ice). Since 2007 only Norwegian vessels have been sealing in the West Ice. In the East Ice Norwegian and Russian companies have been collaborating since 2006.
The Norwegian quotas are set on the basis of scientific recommendations from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO) and the Institute of Marine Research in Norway. These recommendations are used as a basis for drawing up a multi-species management regime, which takes into account, inter alia, how the harvesting of seals will affect other species. In 2009, Norway’s overall quota for harp seal is 47 000 adult animals, 7 000 in the East Ice and 40 000 in the West Ice. Russia is responsible for managing the harp seal stock in the East Ice, whereas the stocks in the West Ice come under the fisheries jurisdiction of several countries and live partly in international waters.
Norwegian sealing is sound resource management
In all, there are about eight million harp and hooded seals in the North Atlantic, and almost two million in the areas where Norwegian sealing takes place.
To maintain seal stocks at a reasonable level, it is necessary to harvest them. The daily energy requirement of a harp seal is equivalent to two and a half to three kilogrammes of herring or capelin. The large seal stocks are making heavy inroads into stocks of various fish species, including some that are used for human consumption. In the North-East Atlantic, harp seals alone eat as much herring as is caught by the entire Norwegian fishing fleet.
If seal populations become too large, parts of them may migrate over long distances to find food. This has at times resulted in massive seal invasions along the Norwegian coast. The animals eat large amounts of fish that would otherwise be used by people as food, and cause extensive damage to fishing gear and fish farms. In addition, thousands of seals have drowned after becoming entangled in fishing nets.
Different marine species influence one another both directly and indirectly. The people who are responsible for managing them must take such interactions into account. If it is decided to harvest one stock, the effects of this decision on other species must also be considered. This is a generally accepted principle that applies to the management of all wild species that are not threatened.
Legislation and control
Norway has strict, detailed legislation governing all aspects of the seal hunt: , dates for the sealing season, quotas, methods of killing, mandatory training for sealers, approval of vessels and inspection.
According to the legislation, animals must be killed as quickly, humanely and painlessly as possible. The only types of equipment Norwegian sealers are allowed to use are rifles and hakapik (a kind of gaff), and there are strict rules regarding their use to ensure that as little pain as possible is inflicted.
Sealers are required to take a course and pass a shooting test every year before the sealing season. Each sealing vessel carries an inspector on board. The inspectors have veterinary qualifications or the equivalent, and report directly to the fisheries authorities.
Independent, international studies show that, in the Norwegian seal hunt, the animals are put to death faster and more humanely than in big-game hunting on land. This was confirmed in a report submitted to the European Commission by the European Food Safety Agency in 2007.
By the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs