Seal Hunt Hurt by Sagging Demand

The European Union's ban on seal products is leading sealers to question their career as the price of pelts plummets.

The largest part of Canada's controversial annual seal hunt seems to have gotten off to a rocky start, with sealers on the East Coast saying that the market for pelts has bottomed out. The harp seal hunt opened in much of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and off Newfoundland's northeast coast on Monday, but with the European Union banning seal imports as of last year, pelts are only fetching $21 apiece, far less than they were a decade ago. More and more sealers are switching to the more lucrative crab market as demand for seal peters out and populations of the aquatic mammal burgeon – at least until government plans to send seal meat to China are finalized.