On Monday, March 23, the annual seal hunt began off Canada’s east coast. Despite protests and global criticism—Russia banned hunting baby seals last week and the EU is considering a ban on all seal product imports—the hunt began at the Gulf of St. Lawrence near the Magdalene Islands and will continue north to Newfoundland.

The hunt is bittersweet for some sealers, who on Sunday honored four friends who died last year when their boat overturned during the hunt, reported The Globe and Mail.

The “allowable catch” this year is 338,200 for harp, hooded and grey seals, an increase of 55,000 from the previous year. In light of global warming, the Humane Society calls these “historic high quotas” “irresponsible and reckless.”

According to AFP, The Humane Society argued, “The last time Canada allowed this many seals to be killed, the harp seal population was reduced by as much as two thirds within a decade.”

The legislative branch of the European Union voted last week on a bill to ban all seal products. The full European Parliament is slated to vote on the issue next month. According to the governing body’s Web site, “In practice, seal products such as bags, hats, boots and gloves used by motorcyclists, skiers and boxers would be outlawed, as would … Omega 3 fatty acid supplements.” The Inuit and other aboriginal communities would be exempt from the ban.

Fisheries Minister Gail Shea told The Globe and Mail, “Our government will continue to defend the rights of Canadian sealers to provide a livelihood for their families through our lawful, sustainable and humane hunt.”

The government has issued 16 permits to human rights organizations and journalists to observe the hunt, AFP reported.

In an editorial published by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, one writer predicts the end of the seal hunt, saying, “Yes, seals will die this year, but they will not get their ridiculously high quota for the simple reason that the money is simply not there anymore.”

Nature Quebec reports that the seal population, which is approximately 5.5 million according to 2006 estimates, is not truly threatened by the hunt. The group contends that an increase in the seal population could endanger the North Atlantic cod stocks.

Caribbean monk seals, which lived in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and the West Atlantic Ocean, were easy targets for hunters while resting, birthing or nursing their pups on the beach, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency has now deemed the species extinct.