HALIFAX - Ottawa has set a quota of 338,200 seals for this year's East Coast hunt -- an increase of 55,000 animals from last year.
Federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced the quota in a short release late Friday.
She said the decision on the size of this year's kill was made with "the advice of scientists to ensure the seal population is maintained."
The federal Fisheries Department estimates the size of the harp, grey and hooded seal herds on the East Coast at about 6.4 million animals.
Last year's quota was 283,200 seals but fewer than that were killed.
About 70 per cent of this year's quota is for the so-called Front, an area east of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The increased quota comes even though a European Parliament committee endorsed a bill that could impose a tight ban on the import of all seal products to the European Union.
