CHARLOTTETOWN  - The government of Greenland has lifted its ban on imports of Canadian seal skins, saying it is satisfied the controversial East Coast hunt is humane and well-regulated.

Officials in Greenland said in a statement distributed Tuesday by the Canadian Fisheries Department, the state-owned company that processes seal products needs the extra skins from Canada to meet market demand.

"Purchases of Canadian skins may help ensure stable supplies to the tannery, and thus help maintain and improve the company's competitiveness,'' Finn Karlsen, Greenland's Fisheries Minister, said in the news release.

Greenland announced a provisional ban on imports of Canadian seal skins in January, citing fears that Canadian seals are brutally beaten to death.

There was speculation at the time that the ban may have been more about protecting Greenland's domestic sealing industry than concerns about Canadian practices.

Nevertheless, opponents of Canada's annual East Coast hunt seized on the Greenland ban as proof of growing international opposition to the hunt.

Other countries that have recently outlawed seal products include Mexico, Belgium, Croatia and Luxembourg. The United States has not allowed the import of Canadian seal products for years.

Karlsen said Greenland's domestic hunt fluctuates from year to year, but the tannery needs a reliable source to process up to 150,000 skins annually.

As well, Karlsen said Greenland's home rule government is satisfied that Canada has sensible and humane regulations for the hunt.

"The use of seals as a resource is widely based on economically and biologically sustainable principles, for which reason it is recommended that buying Canadian skins should be allowed again,'' Karlsen said.

"In this respect, it is also paramount that Greenland and Canada join forces to maintain and develop seal hunting in remote coastal communities where alternative income opportunities are limited.''

© Canadian Press