Saturday, March 25, 2006
GULF OF ST. LAWRENCE (AP) -- Sealers took to the thawing ice floes off the Atlantic Ocean on the first day of Canada's contentious seal hunt Saturday, sparking confrontations with animal-rights activists who claim the annual cull is cruel.
Reporters and animal-rights activists tried to get as close as permitted to the hunt on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but their presence infuriated sealers hunting for scarce animals on small, drifting ice pans.
The fishermen in the isolated island communities of Quebec and Newfoundland say the hunt supplements their meager winter incomes, particularly since cod stocks have dwindled dramatically during the past decade.
The federal government maintains Canada's seal population is healthy and abundant, with a population of nearly 6 million.
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