Anti-sealing protesters arrested

[Animal 0]

Anti-sealing protesters arrested

Last Updated Apr 1 2005 09:07 AM AST

CBC News

CHARLOTTETOWN – Eleven seal hunt protesters have been arrested in the Gulf of St. Lawrence for violating the buffer zone around sealing ships, Fisheries officials said Thursday.

Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society said members of his crew were taken into custody by the RCMP after they tried to photograph sealers in the afternoon.


Sealers on the ice
CBC ARCHIVES: Pelts, Pups and Protests

The arrests happened out on the ice between the Magdalen Islands, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island. Those arrested will be transported to Charlottetown and charged.

"All I know ... is that they entered within one half mile of the sealing activity without permits," said Roger Simone of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Activists must stay at least one nautical mile away from sealing ships.

Watson said one of his members was assaulted while photographing the hunt. John Vasic was beaten in the face and had his camera smashed when he approached one of the sealing boats trapped in the ice.

"I immediately called the coast guard and asked the RCMP to charge the sealer with assault. They responded by sending a helicopter to arrest Vasic," Watson told the Canadian Press.

"There is speculation that some kind of altercation happened out there, and I have no information on that. If there would be, that would be of a criminal nature and that would be the RCMP to respond," said Simone.

An RCMP spokesperson in Charlottetown said they are investigating an alleged assault but are not releasing any details.

FROM MARCH 31, 2005: Second crew of sealers rescued

Bad weather has been hampering the hunt since it began earlier this week. One boat has sunk and another was abandoned, with a total of 14 sealers requiring rescue off ice floes or from freezing waters.

Watson said the federal government should never have allowed the hunt to begin because the weather has been so bad. The hunt began with 70 boats but by Thursday, that number had shrunk to 30.

Animal rights activists say they are there to observe the annual seal hunt. They object to the way the hunters club the seals and have called on the international community to boycott all Canadian seafood products.

Fisheries and Oceans maintains that 98 per cent of the time, the seals are killed properly. A royal commission report also says clubbing, when done correctly, is often more humane than the methods used in commercial slaughterhouses.