There are numerous publicly available sources on the history of sealing and its cultural and economic importance for different cultures and communities across the Arctic and sub-Arctic. Seals, Stigma and Survival focuses on four areas in the Circumpolar North: Greenland, Finland, Norway and Canada. However, other parts of the Nordic region, particularly Sweden, Åland Islands and the Faroe Islands feature as well.
The following are some open access sources that can help you start to learn more about the various histories of sealing in these areas:
Matis Report – Nordic Seals: Seal populations in the North-Atlantic, Arctic Ocean and adjacent waters
WWF. (2014). “Seals in Greenland“.
Marine Finland. “Marine Seals“. – This source provides an introduction to seals and seal hunting in coastal areas of Finland.
Aslak Paltto, Susanna Guttorm and Linnea Rasmus. (2017). “Only sealskin from Greenland can be traded in Finland. “The ancient tradition may disappear,” says Finnish seal hunter“. The Barents Observer.
Stephen Starr. (2018). “Norway’s Arctic communities lament the end of the seal hunt.” The Irish Times.
Government of Norway. (2004). “Fact sheet on Norwegian coastal seals.”
NAMMCO. “Harbour Seal” and “Harp Seal“.
Nunatsiaq News. (2013). “Vessel owners suffer as EU seal ban hammers Norway.”
Norwegian Polar Institute. “Ringed seal (Pusa hispida).”
Canadian Sealers Association. “Early Inuit Hunt“.
Canadian Seal Products. “The North” – Background of sealing by Canadian Inuit and Indigenous communities.
Danny Kerslake. (2018). “Importance of seal hunt to the Inuit is focus of documentary screening, panel in Saskatoon“. CBC News.
Daniele Lafrance. (2017). “Canada’s Seal Harvest: Background Paper“. Library of Parliament.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “The importance of the seal harvest“.
United Seal Industry Association of Newfoundland & Labrador – “The United Seal Industry Association of Newfoundland & Labrador was created to explain why sustainable seal harvests have become an environmental necessity and to dispel inaccurate information about the seal harvest that has been circulating for decades.”
Anna-Carin Westling – Sealhunt.se – for more on a Swedish hunter’s experience
Note: Some of the various sources featured here are attachments submissions to the 2024 EU public consultations that are part of the review of the trade in seal products regulations. You can find more information of these sources here.
Members of this project have also published on various aspects sealing. If you would like to learn more about work by project team members, you can find more information here.
Note: This is a ‘live’ page, subject to updating and may be updated with more information on open access sources as the project progresses.
Seals, Stigma and Survival 