The Nordic Hunters Alliance hope the EU seal products import and export ban can be reversed and are calling on the EU parliament to look into recent research on depleted fish stocks in their region and the causes they say are due to a ballooning seal population. 
A larger number of EU countries bordering the Baltic Sea such as Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Sweden worry about the effect the region’s steadily increasing seal numbers are having on their fishing industry. This past October Sweden sent the commission a request that the the 27-member bloc loosen its rules on trading seal products.
“There has been a sharp increase in these species in the Baltic Sea, and this is endangering the recovery of certain fish stocks that are important for coastal fisheries”, said Peter Kullgren, the Swedish rural affairs minister
“There’s a lot of angry fishermen around here”, said Jouni Heinikoski, a former hunter and fish harvester in northern Finland, earlier this year. “Because the seal population is so high nowadays, you cannot use gill nets anymore and salmon traps has to be made by special nylon.”
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Listen to The Broadcast episode Radio-Canada’s Patrick Butler with an in depth look into the upcoming review of the EU trade ban of seal products cbc.ca/listen/live-ra