Cabinet announces new allowable seal harvesting quota
Cabinet has endorsed a submission by the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources to reduce the total allowable catch of seal pups and increase in seal bulls for the 2019 seal hunting season running from 1 July to 15 November.
The allowable harvesting of seal pups is set at 60,000 and 8,000 for bulls. During the last seal harvesting season, the total allowable catch for seal pups was at 80,000 while bulls were limited to 6,000.
In Namibia, seal hunting is listed among the most important commercial marine species. Despite receiving major backlash for the activity, government has defended its annual seal hunt exercise, citing no harm being caused to the sustainability of the seal population in the country.
