Editing Harp seal (section)

==Sealing==
{{Main|Seal hunting}}

All three populations are hunted commercially, mainly by [[Canada]], [[Norway]], [[Russia]] and [[Greenland]].<ref name="emm">{{cite book|url=http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/bookdescription.cws_home/716899/description#description|title=Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals|last=Lavigne|first=David M.|publisher=Academic Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-12-373553-9|editor1-last=Perrin|editor1-first=William F.|edition=2nd|location=Burlington, MA|editor2-last=Wursig|editor2-first=Bernd|editor3-last=[[Hans Thewissen|Thewissen]]|editor3-first=J.G.M.|access-date=2010-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091109165656/http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/bookdescription.cws_home/716899/description#description|archive-date=2009-11-09|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In Canada, commercial hunting season is from November 15 to May 15. Most sealing occurs in late March in the [[Gulf of St. Lawrence]], and during the first or second week of April off [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]], in an area known as "the Front". This peak spring period is generally what is referred to as the "Canadian seal hunt". Hunting Canadian whitecoats has been banned since 1987. Since 2000, harp seals that are targeted during the hunt are often found to be less than a year old, known as "beaters".<ref name="Daoust-2012">{{Cite journal|last1=Daoust|first1=P-Y|last2=Caraguel|first2=C|s2cid=72487796|date=2012-11-01|title=The Canadian harp seal hunt: observations on the effectiveness of procedures to avoid poor animal welfare outcomes|journal=Animal Welfare|language=en|volume=21|issue=4|pages=445–455|doi=10.7120/09627286.21.4.445|issn=0962-7286}}</ref> In 2006, the St. Lawrence hunt officially started on March 25 due to thin ice caused by the year's milder temperatures. [[Inuit]] living in the region hunt mainly for food and, to a lesser extent, commerce.<ref name=emm/>

In 2019, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans estimated sustainable harvest levels for the next five years. The identified annual Canadian Total Allowable Catch (TAC) levels were 425,000 assuming harvest age structures of 95% young of the year (YOY).<ref>{{cite web |title=2019 Status of Northwest Atlantic Harp Seals, Pagophilus groenlandicus |url=https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/csas-sccs/Publications/SAR-AS/2020/2020_020-eng.html |website=Fisheries and Oceans Canada |date=26 March 2020 |access-date=2 March 2021}}</ref> In 2016, 66,800 harp seals and 1,612 grey seals were harvested in Atlantic Canada.<ref>{{cite web |title=Statistics on the seal harvest |url=https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fisheries-peches/seals-phoques/seal-stats-phoques-eng.html |website=Fisheries and Oceans Canada |date=March 2016 |access-date=2 March 2021}}</ref>

In 2005, the Independent Veterinarians' Working Group (IVWG) recommended a three-step process for hunters to kill the seals with little or no pain for the seals, as long as the process is completed in rapid succession.<ref name="Daoust-2012" /> The process is as follows:

# Stun the seal on the head using tools, such as a rifle or a club, to immediately kill the animal or cause it to permanently lose consciousness.
# Ensure that step 1 was completed correctly, and the skull is irreversibly damaged.
# Cut the axillary arteries along both armpits and cut along the belly to prevent blood from reaching the brain, confirming its death.

In 2009, this process was included in both the 'Conditions of License' for the Canadian hunt as well as the Canadian Marine Mammal Regulations.<ref name="Daoust-2012" />

The Canadian seal hunt is monitored by the Canadian government. Although approximately 70% of the hunt occurs on "the Front", most private monitors focus on the St. Lawrence hunt, due to its more convenient location.

The annual quota off the coast of Greenland for 2017–2019 was set at 26,000 1+ animals, where two pups are equivalent to removing one 1+ animal. The total catches of harp seals were 2000 (including 1934 pups) in 2017, 2703 (including 1218 pups) in 2018, and 5813 (including 2168 pups) in 2019.<ref>{{cite web |last1=International Council for the Exploration of the Sea |title=Norway request to ICES on management of the harp and hooded seal stocks in the Northeast Atlantic |url=http://ices.dk/sites/pub/Publication%20Reports/Advice/2019/Special_Requests/no.2019.22.pdf |access-date=2 March 2021 |archive-date=26 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211026122226/https://www.ices.dk/sites/pub/Publication%20Reports/Advice/2019/Special_Requests/no.2019.22.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The 2004 West Ice total allowable catch (TAC) was 15,000, almost double the sustainable catch of 8,200. Actual catches were 9,895 in 2004 and 5,808 in 2005.<ref name=emm/> The 2004 White Sea TAC was 45,000. The catch was 22,474.<ref name=emm/>

=== Impact on populations ===
Hunting has tremendously affected the population size of harp seals. Over the past 150 years, the harp seal population has fluctuated from over 9 million to as little as 1 million.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/346317.pdf|title=Current Status of Northwest Atlantic Harp Seals, (Pagophilus groenlandicus)|date=2011|website=Fisheries and Oceans Canada|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501081610/http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/346317.pdf|archive-date=May 1, 2019|access-date=May 1, 2019}}</ref> The current population is estimated to be around 4.5 million or less.<ref name="iucn" /> The Northwest Atlantic populations was found to have decreased by at least 50 percent from 1952 to 1970 <ref>{{Cite journal |first1=W. Don |last1=Bowen |first2=Charles K. |last2=Capstick |first3=David E. |last3=Sergeant |title=Temporal Changes in the Reproductive Potential of Female Harp Seals (''Pagophilus groenlandicus'') |journal=Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences |year=1981 |volume=38 |issue=5 |pages=495–503 |doi=10.1139/f81-071|bibcode=1981CJFAS..38..495B }}</ref> but nowadays, seal populations all are hunted under quotas and other restrictions.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=1976-09-01|title=History and present status of populations of harp and hooded seals|journal=Biological Conservation|language=en|volume=10|issue=2|pages=95–118|doi=10.1016/0006-3207(76)90055-0|issn=0006-3207|last1=Sergeant|first1=D.E.|bibcode=1976BCons..10...95S }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Monitoring the seal harvest |url=https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fisheries-peches/seals-phoques/monitoring-surveillance-eng.html |website=Fisheries and Oceans Canada |date=March 2016 |access-date=2 March 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ensuring the seal harvest is humane |url=https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fisheries-peches/seals-phoques/humane-sans-cruaute-eng.html |website=Fisheries and Oceans Canada |date=March 2016 |access-date=2 March 2021}}</ref>

<gallery class="center" mode="nolines" widths="250" noborder="no" caption="Sealing">
File:FMIB 35605 Good day's catch, like this, fills the decks with quivering redness and the air with rarest perfumes.jpeg|Sealing ship off Newfoundland with a haul of dead harp seals
File:Phoeca groenlandica piece of meat upernavik 2007-06-26.JPG|Harp seal [[Ribs (food)|ribs]], [[Upernavik]]
File:ENB Artisan flats with seal fur.jpg|[[Shoe|Flats]] with harp seal fur
</gallery>