Catches decreased after 1982 and remained low, averaging approximately 52,000, until 1995. Annual catches again increased to over 240,000 between 1996 and 1999. Prior to 1980, catches in Greenland were consistently less than 20,000 animals. Data collected since 1980 suggest that Greenland catch increased steadily until 1996, declined slightly in 1997 but increased again in 1998 to approximately 89,000. Based on the first nine months of 1999, catches have continued to increase to over 100,000 harp seals.
Limited data are available from the Canadian Arctic.
Estimates of the age composition of seals harvested in Greenland were obtained from biological samples collected in West Greenland between 1970 and 1993. The use of this age structure to represent the ages of seals taken in the current Greenland harvest is consistent with lengths obtained during recent sampling in Greenland.