Before sealers can qualify for a professional licence, they must obtain an assistant licence and work under the supervision of a professional sealer for two years. Seal hunting methods have been studied and approved by the Royal Commission on Seals and Sealing . The Commission found that the methods used in hunting seals compare favourably to those used to dispatch any other wild or domestic animal. These methods are designed to kill the animal quickly, thus minimizing pain and psychological distress. DFO is now conducting a regulatory review that will look at possible changes to the present sealing regulations.
Society makes use of many different animals for food and clothing.
In this sense, the harvesting of seals is not fundamentally different from the exploitation of livestock. The seal hunt provides valuable income to about 12,000 sealers and their families in eastern Canada, particularly in some Newfoundland communities that lack many employment opportunities. The seal hunt helps isolated towns and villages in the winter season when there are few economic alternatives. These are communities that have been hard hit by the downturn in the groundfish industry. Aboriginal peoples have hunted seals for food and clothing for hundreds of years.