Photo by Paul Darrow/Reuters
A Canadian Coast Guard ice breaker (top) keeps watch
on the Sea Shepherd conservation society vessel
Farley Mowat off the coast of Cape Breton island
March 30, 2008.
Posted on 04/05/2008 1:08:43 PM PDT by Clive
OTTAWA -- The federal government has laid charges against the anti-sealing vessel Farley Mowat, which was involved in a confrontation with sealers near Cape Breton last weekend.
Fisheries and Oceans announced Sunday an investigation into a high-seas confrontation between the Farley Mowat and sealers on Mar. 30 has ended in charges laid against the vessel's captain, Alexander Cornelissen, and first officer, Peter Hammarstedt.
"The seal hunt is a humane, sustainable, and legal activity, and our government is committed to protecting the safety and security of sealers," said Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Loyola Hearn. "This guides our decisions on the ground and Canadians can rest assured that we will pursue the charges against these individuals vigorously."
Sealer Shane Briand said the Farley Mowat, operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, endangered the lives of his crew when it came close to them Mar. 30 about 60 kilometres off Cape Breton.
Speaking from Port aux Basques, N.L. on Thursday, Mr. Briand said the much larger Mowat chased down his 14-metre boat throughout the day, stopping only when a Canadian Coast Guard vessel arrived and put itself between them.
"She started harassing us right away. She almost took the stabilizer off, she was that close. And we had a guy on the ice and she broke the ice up under his feet," he said.
Both men have been charged with approaching within one-half nautical mile of a seal hunt, a violation of the Marine Mammal Regulations. Captain Cornelissen faces an additional charge under the Fisheries Act of obstructing a fisheries officer or inspector.
Mr. Briand, who says he gave a statement to fisheries officers on Thursday, said they feared for their lives when the Mowat came within 30 metres, several times, of his boat, the Cathy Erlene.
"The coast guard was keeping us safe . . . If they hadn't arrived, we would have had to get in our speed boats to escape," Mr. Briand said.
The coast guard and the Sea Shepherd Society have given differing accounts of the incident, with the crew of the conservation group's ship insisting the icebreaker Des Groseilliers intentionally rammed them twice.
Mr. Hearn denies that happened. He says the two vessels merely "grazed," but when the Mowat ignored warnings to stay away from sealers, it broke the law, he added.
"They have endangered our sealers. We are aware of that. We have these facts documented," he told radio station VOCM in St. John's Wednesday.
On the society's Web site, Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson said the crew of the Mowat have video proving they did nothing wrong.
Briand, of Dingwall, N.S., said his crew also took pictures, showing the 54-metre steel-hulled Mowat looming over them. He said fisheries officers now have the photos.
News of the charges came as hundreds of mourners packed a church in Cap Aux Meules, Que., in the Magdalen Islands, to say goodbye to three seal hunters killed in last weekend's maritime tragedy.
The annual seal hunt got off to a tragic start when the 12-metre Magdalen Islands sealer L'Acadien II sank while under tow by a coast guard ship March 29.
Only two men survived.
In his comments Wednesday, Mr. Hearn said if the Mowat won't obey orders to return to a Canadian port the only option will be to board the ship at sea, which he called an extremely dangerous operation.
Photo by Paul Darrow/Reuters
A Canadian Coast Guard ice breaker (top) keeps watch
on the Sea Shepherd conservation society vessel
Farley Mowat off the coast of Cape Breton island
March 30, 2008.
French fishermen in St-Pierre chase away seal hunt protesters
It seems to me that the comments made by the Mowat Captain about the tragedy of the fishermen's deaths being a lesser tragedy than the deaths of seals epitomizes what environmentalist are doing to our world.
Ted Turner says there are to many people in this world.
I would suggest that we euthanasia all unneeded people starting with Ted Turner, PETA, ELF, The Sierra Club and the list goes on.....
Isn’t Sea Shepherd the same pirate gang that has been harrassing Japanese whalers?
Yes, using vessels Farley Mowar, Steve Irwin and Robert Hunter.
No. Put them on the ice and run an icebreaker around it in gradually decreasing circles.
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