Shots Fired During Seal Hunt Clash
The Globe and Mail - 1 April 2005
CHARLOTTETOWN (CP) -- A seal hunter carrying a rifle fired shots
into the air Friday as a group of sealers and protesters clashed
amid the ice floes on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The confrontation happened after three helicopters carrying anti-sealing
activists and photographers landed near a sealing vessel off the
north coast of Prince Edward Island.
At first, about six sealers hurled verbal abuse at about a dozen
protesters and observers, some of whom were members of the International
Fund for Animal Welfare.
The protesters, who are required to keep at least 10 metres from
the sealers, were then approached by a least one sealer who was
swinging a gaff ñ a 30-centimetre stick with a hook on the
end.
At one point, a snowmobile carrying two sealers hurtled toward the
activists and swung away at the last moment.
A shoving match ensued, several shots were fired into the air by
a sealer aboard the boat, and the protesters retreated to their
choppers.
No one was hurt.
"It's was scary," said Canadian Press photographer Johnathan
Hayward, who witnessed the confrontation.
It was the second violent incident in as many days.
Paul Watson, captain of the protest ship Farley Mowat, said he saw
one sealer attack a member of his crew on the ice Thursday.
The sealer involved in the scuffle said he was just defending himself.
"Four men came at me, I fell down and when I got up I was underneath,
and the only alternative I had was to defend myself," said
Rendell Genge, captain of the Brady Mariner and a resident of Anchor
Point, Nfld.
"I just gave him one punch. I wasn't hitting any more ... They
had 15 to 20 men on the ice and there were only eight of us."
Mr. Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, said
he filed a complaint but the RCMP responded by arresting several
members of his crew.
Sergeant Dave Thibeau, a spokesman for the RCMP, said that was inaccurate.
In fact, officers with the federal Fisheries Department arrested
three of Mr. Watson's colleagues under Fisheries regulations that
prohibit protesters from getting too close to sealers, a department
spokesman said.
Mr. Watson later issued a statement confirming 19 members of his
crew approached the sealing vessel. But he insisted that they remained
one half nautical mile away, as required by the regulations in the
protest permit.
Sgt. Thibeau said he was unaware of the shooting Friday.
Sealers in the Gulf have a catch limit of 90,000 seals, but bad
weather has hampered the hunt this year. During the first three
days of the hunt, just over 34,000 seals were killed.
The weather on Friday was good, however, with bright sunshine, little
wind and temperatures well above freezing.
About 70 boats were involved in the hunt when it started Tuesday.
More hunters will descend on the ice floes off the north coast of
Newfoundland on April 12.
This spring marks the last season for a three-year federal plan
that allowed sealers to harvest a total of 975,000 seals. The total
allowable catch remaining for 2005 is nearly 320,000.
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