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From the BBC
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Fishermen in Canada have begun what is expected to be one of the biggest seal-hunting seasons in decades.
The hunters returned to the ice floes after the government gave the go-ahead for more than 300,000 seals to be killed this year.
Authorities say the hunt is now more humane and that the rising seal population needs to be controlled.
As in previous years, animal rights groups are campaigning against the hunt, which they say is cruel.
The activists also say Canada is trying to appease fishing communities for political reasons.
The fishermen blame the seals for the devastation of Canada's fish stocks and have pressed for a renewed culling.
The two-month hunt takes place on ice floes off the Atlantic coast, where the seals give birth.
Earlier this month, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said in a statement that Canada's seal population was healthy and abundant.
"The harp seal herd - the most important seal herd for this industry - is estimated at around five million animals, nearly the highest level ever recorded, and almost triple what it was in the 1970s."
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