Seal Welfare: Hunting, Bycatch, and Entanglement

Seals face welfare threats from commercial hunting, fisheries bycatch, and plastic entanglement. Understanding these issues helps identify where advocacy can have the most impact.

Key Facts

Canada conducts an annual commercial harp seal hunt, with quotas of several hundred thousand animals annually
Club hakapik strikes are used to stun seals before bleeding, but observer reports suggest significant numbers of animals are not effectively stunned
Seals are one of the most commonly entangled marine mammals in lost fishing gear and plastic debris
Grey seals and harbor seals are often blamed for fish stock declines and illegally shot in some regions
Seal pup mortality is high in the wild, but commercial hunting adds additional mortality on top of natural rates

Welfare Considerations

Seal welfare involves both acute and chronic suffering. Commercial hunts raise welfare concerns about effective stunning and rapid death. Entanglement in fishing gear causes slow death from drowning or progressive injury. Illegal shootings occur in some fisheries regions. Bycatch in fishing nets drowns seals that need to surface to breathe. Conservation-welfare integration is essential — protecting seals from illegal killing and entanglement while addressing fisheries tensions through non-lethal deterrents serves both goals.

What You Can Do

Support organizations opposing commercial seal hunts and advocating for humanely audited hunts where they continue
Advocate for acoustic deterrent devices on fishing gear to help seals avoid nets
Report marine mammal entanglement to your local stranding network immediately
Support research into non-lethal fishing and aquaculture deterrents for seals
Oppose illegal shooting of seals by reporting violations to wildlife enforcement agencies