"So why is it happening now?"

It isn't. There seems to be a lack of information as to the subject of the slaughter in the seal hunt. Those dark-eyed, white-coated cuties that the celeb protesters are so fond of posing with are not being dispatched, it is the seal at a later stage when the fur is coarser and mottled grey in colour that is being hunted. It's just that the younger ones make for a better photo-op.