Hooded seals are a migratory species, with a range that encompasses a large sector of the North Atlantic. They follow an annual cycle of movement that keeps them in association with drifting pack ice. They breed during the spring in three traditional areas – off the east coast of Canada, in the Davis Strait, and in theWest Ice (between Greenland and Jan Mayen). During the summer and autumn hooded seals disperse broadly, preferring the outer edges of packice areas. Hooded seals can be seen during the spring, summer and autumn in Svalbard waters, in fjords or in more open water areas – wherever there is pack ice.

The global population of hooded seals is in the order of half a million animals. The actual number of hooded seals that visit Svalbard waters likely varies dramatically according to annual ice conditions but numbers are not known. Hooded seals are solitary animals outside the breeding and moulting seasons. Hooded seals are deep divers that feed on Greenland halibut, a variety of redfish species, squid, and a variety of pelagic fish species including herring, capelin and Atlantic cod. During the autumn their diet in some areas can also include smaller prey such as prawns and polar cod. Polar bears are natural predators of hooded seals; killer whales may also be a predator, although this has never been documented conclusively.

Hooded seals give birth in a highly synchronous fashion at each birthing site, in late February or early March on free-floating annual pack ice. This species is notable for having the shortest mammalian lactation period. Mothers remain with their pups for only four days. During this time pups drink more than 10 litres of milk per day and more than double their birth mass, gaining weight at a rate of up to seven kg per day. Hooded seals have the fattest milk documented to date among mammals; it can contain up to 70% fat. Pups are weaned at 50-60 kg. Males attend females serially, with successful combatants achieving a degree of polygamy. Females reach sexual maturity at an age of three; males are a little bit older when they mature. Hooded seals live to be 25-30 years of age.

Hooded seals have been commercially exploited for centuries. At various points in times hunts have originated from Norway, Russia, Denmark-Greenland, Great Britain and Canada. In years of high harvest up to 150,000 animals have been taken in the North Atlantic. Documented population declines resulted in the introduction of quotas in the early 1970s. Norway and Russia have a bilateral agreement for setting quotas for harvesting hooded seals in the North-East Atlantic. Commercial harvesting of hooded seals is managed internationally under the International Commission for Northwest Atlantic Fisheries with Canada, Norway and Denmark- Greenland as voting members. Subsistence harvesting of hooded seals also takes place in Canada and Greenland. Hooded seals are protected in Svalbard.