Numerous conservation measures, international management plans, harvest quotas, and agreements and treaties, have been developed for the conservation of Hooded Seals dating back to the 1870s. Moulting seals in the Denmark Strait have been protected since 1961. Harvest quotas at Jan Mayen began in 1971. Hunting was banned in the Gulf of St Lawrence in 1972 and quotas were placed on the rest of the Canadian harvest beginning in 1974. A European Economic Community ban on importation on seal products in 1985 reduced the harvest of blueback Hooded Seals through the loss of the primary market for the furs (Lavigne and Kovacs 1986, Reeves et al. 1992).