Seals

Ancient rock carvings illustrate several thousand years old traditions of seal hunting in Norway. During the millenniums, coastal seals served as valuable renewable resources for communities along the Norwegian coast. The utilization of the entire animal – meat, blubber and skin – is well documented. Seal hunting is difficult and, up to recently, seal hunting has been on the decline. Read more

Hooded seals are endemic to the North Atlantic. The hooded seals breed on pack ice and there are three main whelping areas: off Newfoundland in Canada, in the Davies Strait between Canada and Greenland, and in the Jan Mayen area of the Greenland Sea. The degree of exchange among these whelping areas remains unclear. Whelping occurs in mid–late March. The intensive lactation period lasts only 3 ... Read more

The harp seal is endemic to the North Atlantic. The harp seal breeds on pack ice and there are three main whelping areas:  off Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (the Northwest Atlantic stock), in the Jan Mayen area of the Greenland Sea and in the White Sea in Russia.   Read more

Norwegian sealing was targeting two species, the harp and hooded seals. Sealing takes place in the southeast part of the Barents Sea, the White Sea in the Russian Economic Zone and in the area between Greenland and Jan Mayen. In particular, vessels from Sunnmøre in central Norway and the area around Tromsø in Northern Norway were involved in sealing. The products were meat for consumption, blub... Read more