WASHINGTON – The Humane Society of the United States is asking American restaurants and consumers to boycott Canadian seafood to pressure that government to stop the annual seal hunt.

The announcement of the boycott Monday coincided with the start of country-of-origin labeling for seafood products sold in the United States, a practice that will let shoppers know where their seafood comes from.

Legal Sea Foods, a 31-restaurant chain, and Down East Seafoods, a distributor to about 200 hotels and restaurants, have joined the boycott. The Humane Society has appealed to more than 5,000 U.S. seafood distributors to follow suit.

“Americans have repeatedly used their purchasing power to bring about significant improvements in animal welfare,” Humane Society President Wayne Pacelle said.

The hunt, which animal rights activists say is needlessly cruel, has been the target of protests since the 1960s. When this year’s hunt began last week, thousands of sealers armed with clubs, rifles and spears clashed with protesters arriving by helicopter.

Canada says the decades-long practice brings badly needed income to impoverished fishing communities, primarily from pelt sales to Norway, Denmark and China. The United States bans imports of seal products.

“It’s a livelihood for many of the aboriginals in Newfoundland and Labrador. They don’t have much in the way of an alternative economic endeavor,” said Terry Colli, a Canadian embassy spokesman.

The largest seafood importer to the United States, Canada accounted for nearly a fifth of the U.S. market in 2003, or about $2.2 billion, the Canadian government reported.