Seal quota hike may be meaningless: sealer

Uncertainty about whether the seal hunt will go ahead, and questions about who will buy pelts if it does, may make the federal government's announcement that it has increased the quota for this year's East Coast seal hunt meaningless, sealers say.

"We're hoping for the best but up until now we have no indication if anyone is buying and what kind of price they are willing to pay," said Frank Pinhorn, executive director of the Canadian Sealers' Association, in Newfoundland.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has increasedthis year's harp seal quota by 50,000 animals, bringing the total allowable catch for harp, hooded and grey sealsto 388,200.

This year'sharp seal quota includes an allocation of 20,000 seals to support three projects proposed by the sealing industry that the department says aim to make the fullest possible use of the hunted animals.

Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea says the population of harp seals is about 6.9 million, more than triple what it was in the 1970s.

As in the past, about 70 per cent of the quota is allocated to fishermen working in the waters northeast of Newfoundland and Labrador, while the Gulf of St. Lawrence gets the rest.

There have been numerous reports in Atlantic Canada of seals giving birth to pups near shore this year because warm weather has left the Gulf of St. Lawrence largely devoid of ice, where seals normally have their pups.

Earlier in March, Shea said there might not be a seal hunt in the gulf because of poor ice conditions. But Pinhorn said fishermen are telling him that there is sufficient ice in the gulf to go ahead with a hunt this year.

The gulf hunt usually takes place in late March. The hunt off Newfoundland's northeast coast usually happens weeks later.