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Canadian sealers and politicians appealed Wednesday to the European Union not to ban the sale of products derived from seals.

The appeal comes amid renewed charges that Canada's annual seal hunt off its eastern and northern coast lines is cruel and inhumane.

The EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas is considering a ban on all seal products amid increased pressure on him to take action by animal rights groups this year.

EU officials say he is expected to make his recommendations before summer.

Special Ambassador Loyola Sullivan, who was leading a week-long Canadian trip to lobby officials in several European capitals, said a ban could violate world trade rules.

And Mr. Sullivan is hinting at possible retaliatory trade action by Canada in response to any ban on seal products such as blubber, meat or pelts.

“I believe strongly that there shouldn't be restrictions on access to markets,” Mr. Sullivan told reporters. “The European Commission has an obligation to live up to their [trade] commitments. We hope they exercise that right.”

The Canadian government takes threats of a ban “very seriously” and will defend “the legitimate sustainable, humane, economic activity for some of the most disadvantaged people in our country,” he said.

The controversial hunt resurfaced at the European Parliament and EU headquarters as this year's hunt began last week in the Gulf of St. Lawrence – the first stage in the largest such hunt in the world.

Similar hunts also are carried out in Greenland, Norway, Russia, Namibia and EU-member Finland, but none has been scrutinized by European activists as much as Canada's. That inconsistency has frustrated Canadian officials.

The European Parliament called last year on the EU to ban the import of seal fur.

This year's hunt will be conducted under new rules intended to appease European concerns, with extra steps added to make sure the animals are dead before they are skinned – a recommendation made in an EU report released in December. That report was inconclusive on recommending a full EU ban.

Canadian authorities have set this year's total allowable catch at 275,000 seals, up from 270,000 last year. Seventy per cent of the seals will be taken in an area off Newfoundland's north coast known as the Front, while 30 per cent will be taken in the Gulf of St. Lawrence – the first stage of the hunt.

Nunavut Premier Paul Okalik said a ban would damage already fragile isolated communities that depend on the annual hunt for income and food.

He also urged the 27-country EU not to apply a double standard on the hunt, citing examples of how animals are poorly treated and used after slaughter in Europe.

“I'm sometimes troubled by some countries that try to pretend that our harvest is somehow unacceptable,” Mr. Okalik said. “At least in our case we are trying to use every part of the animal. ... Please look in the mirror and see what you are doing yourselves.”

Denis Longuepie and Mark Small, who hunt for seals off the coasts of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, said the way they kill seals with high-powered rifles as opposed to hakapiks – heavy clubs – is humane.

“We are very professional, we take courses, we do what we have to do,” said Mr. Longuepie, from Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Que.

Mr. Sullivan said Canada is seemingly fighting an uphill media war against campaigns by animal-welfare groups that often try to sway public opinion on the issue by showing photographs or film footage of cute and cuddly seal pups, and of dead and bloodied seals on ice flows.

“We continue to see ... images of white-coat seals (the killing of which has) been illegal since 1987,” he said. “They sensationalize, they take steps beyond manipulation.”

Environmental and animal-rights groups have already slammed Canadian officials for not allowing them better access to this year's start of the hunt. They insist the mass kill is devastating the harp seal population.