One tonne of one-year Atlantic cod consumed by seals is equal to approximately 38,000 fish. Further research on seal prey consumption and the impacts on the recovery of cod stocks is being undertaken. The harp seal fishery dropped from 300,000 animals a year in the mid-60s to an annual average harvest of fewer than 65,000 in the decade prior to 1996. In 1996 and 1997, the annual harvests were about 242,000 and 261,000 respectively. Based on 1994 figures, up to 287,000 seals could be harvested each year without reducing the current harp seal population.
Seals have few natural predators except sharks, killer whales and polar bears.