Annapolis offers a feast of the senses for seafood lovers -- from succulent blue crab and oysters from the Chesapeake Bay to meaty Prince Edward Island mussels imported from Canada. But now a few local restaurants are turning away Canadian seafood in protest over that nation's annual harp seal hunt.

Riordan's Saloon, Buddy's Crabs and Ribs and others have joined a year-old boycott sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States. More than 400 restaurants, food distributors and grocery stores have joined the boycott, the animal welfare organization said.

What impact the boycott is having -- and how many restaurants are involved -- are matters of dispute. Patricia Ragan, who directs the Humane Society's ProtectSeals Campaign, says the protest has played a big role in the more than $160 million loss in 2005 in Canadian snow crab exports alone. Canadian authorities say the campaign has had little impact, attributing declining exports to a variety of factors, including a strong Canadian dollar and a strong snow crab harvest in Alaska. The U.S. makes up 62 percent of Canada's $4.3 billion seafood export market.

Seal hunts were highly controversial in the 1960s and 1970s after graphic images of slaughtered seal pups circulated around the world. The U.S. banned the import of seal products in 1972, and Canada outlawed the killing of baby seals still bearing white fur in 1987.

But a new round of protests was sparked three years ago when Canada increased the number of allowable kills to levels not seen in decades. This year's limit is 325,000.

Animal activists say the hunt, which involves shooting or clubbing seals as young as 12 to 15 days, when their white fur begins molting, is cruel and inhumane.

"They are completely helpless at that age," Ragan said. "They have not taken solid food, they're still living on their mother's milk, they can't swim -- they're completely defenseless."

Mike Riordan, a former National Basketball Association player whose popular namesake restaurant has been a mainstay on the city's waterfront since 1977, last week began printing a small item on the bottom of his menus: "Due to the seal hunt, we do not serve Canadian seafood."

"Being in the restaurant business, I am obviously not anti-seafood, or against the fishing industry," Riordan said. "But I refuse to support fishermen who are inhumanely clubbing and shooting seal pups, just for their fur."

Riordan said he gets only a small portion of his seafood from Canada, so the impact will be small. "It's mostly an awareness thing," he said.

The impact will be larger at Buddy's, where about 40 percent of the seafood comes from Canada, said owner Kevin Blonder. "The Prince Edward mussels are very popular," Blonder said. "They're nice, clean thick mussels. We'll switch to Maine mussels, and salmon will go from Canadian to Chilean, and snow crab will go from Canadian to Alaskan."

The Italian Market and Restaurant and the Main Ingredient Cafe and Catering have also joined the boycott.

Canada authorities say the hunts are an important source of income for fishermen in the off-season. Pelts bring about $50 each in Finland, Norway and other places where demand remains high.

Phil Jenkins, a spokesman with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said most seals aren't harvested until about 21 days, when their pelts have turned gray and are most valuable.

The Canadian government sees the seals as a "renewable resource," said Steve Outhouse, communications director for Fisheries and Oceans Minister Loyola Hearn. "Just like there's fishing and hunting that goes on, as long as it doesn't deplete the resource to where it's no longer healthy."

The Center for Consumer Freedom, a nonprofit group supported by the food and beverage industries, recently disputed the Humane Society's boycott figures. The center said it contacted 87 companies listed as supporting the boycott and that 78 percent said they were not participating.

Ragan of the Humane Society dismissed the findings. "If the Center for Consumer Freedom really believed our boycott was ineffective, they wouldn't be spending so much time and effort trying to discredit it," she said.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company