Canada on Tuesday shrugged off an international campaign against its annual seal hunt, arguing the cull was needed to control near record numbers of some species.
Most of the hunt, which starts when ice flows begin to break up each year is for harp seals, officials said at a briefing Tuesday.
Harp seals have not only withstood recent increases in culling, but are now enjoying near record populations, threatening some fisheries, they said.
BOYCOTT
Asked about threats from the Europe and the International Fund for Animal Welfare that Canada could face a boycott of some products over the cull, one official said: "Our market in Europe for seal products is already very small.
"And we have to do our job responsibly. We are looking at the middle ground, taking into account conservation and the economic needs of the region," the official said.
But international animal rights groups are preparing a massive campaign against the cull, and say the hunts are cruel and unnecessary.
The Canadian government has maintained they cull can be justified on environmental grounds, and is vital to the economies of small coastal towns.
Officials said that last year, 15,468 licenses to hunt harp seals were issued, compared to 10,383 in 1995.
Canada's current Atlantic Seal Harvest Management Plan 2003-2005, allows for the harvest of 975,000 harp seals over three years with a total allowable catch (TAC) of up to 350,000 animals in any two years.
For this year's harp seal hunt, there remains a quota of 319,517.
The hunt for so-called whitecoats (harp seal pups) and bluebacks (hooded seal pups) has not been permitted since 1987.
The majority of sealing occurs between March and May, with the first main hunt this year scheduled to start on March 29 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
ABUNDANT
Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans insisted in a statement Tuesday that "Canada's seal population is healthy and abundant."
"The harp seal herd -- the most important seal herd for this industry -- is estimated at around 5 million animals, nearly the highest level ever recorded, and almost triple what it was in the 1970s," the department said.
"Our management plan for the annual seal hunt is based on solid science that is reviewed by scientists from Canada, the United States and Europe," it added.
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