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Shots fired after push comes to shove on the ice
No injuries or arrests after 'scary' confrontation off Prince Edward Island

Canadian Press

Saturday, April 02, 2005

CHARLOTTETOWN -- A hunter aboard a sealing vessel used a rifle to fire several shots into the sky Friday as a group of sealers and protesters clashed amid the ice floes on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The violent confrontation -- the second in as many days -- happened after three helicopters carrying anti-sealing activists and photographers landed near the boat, 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 had observer permits that require them to keep at least 10 metres from the sealers, were then approached by at least one sealer who was swinging a short stick with a hook, otherwise known as a gaff.

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 from the boat, and the protesters retreated to their choppers.

No one appeared to be hurt and the RCMP said they had yet to receive any complaints.

"It was scary," said Canadian Press photographer Johnathan Hayward, who witnessed the tense confrontation.

"There were single shots being fired when we first got there," Hayward said.

"And then there was a burst of gunshots, like four or five. I looked up and there was this gentleman walking towards us with a rifle."

The International Fund for Animal Welfare issued a statement saying the altercation was also captured on videotape by an Italian television crew.

The animal welfare group said the sealers involved were crew members from the Cape Ashley, a fishing boat based in Port aux Choix, Nfld.

"One of the sealers fired warning shots from a rifle as the group moved to 150 metres away and then again at 50 metres away," the statement said.

"As the group moved closer, still more than 10 metres away, a sealer rushed up to them and began threatening a member of IFAW with a large hook and physically pushing him around."

The statement went on to allege that another member of the boat's crew hit an IFAW member with hakapik, a spiked club used to kill seals.

"This is what our supporters give us money to do, so it's our responsibility to go out there and document what's going on," IFAW spokesman Chris Cutter said in an interview from Charlottetown. "We'll be out there until the hunt ends."

On Thursday, the captain of the protest ship Farley Mowat said he saw one sealer attack a member of his crew on the ice.

Paul Watson, head of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, said he filed a complaint but the RCMP responded by arresting several members of his crew.

Sgt. Dave Thibeau, a spokesman for the RCMP, said federal fisheries officers arrested 11 of Watson's colleagues for allegedly violating department regulations that prohibit protesters from getting too close to sealers. Ten appeared Friday in Provincial Court in Charlottetown and released on the condition they refrain from leaving the boat unless in port.

More hunters will converge on the ice floes off the north coast of Newfoundland April 12.
© The Vancouver Sun 2005

CREDIT: Jonathan Hayward, Canadian Press
A seal hunter tangles with a member of the International Fund for Animal Welfare on an ice floe in the Gulf of St. Lawrence on Friday, while, another hunter (above) clubs a baby harp seal. This spring marks the last season for a three-year federal plan that allowed sealers to harvest a total of 975,000 seals.