The coast guard icebreaker Sir William Alexander, which was involved in last year's accident involving a sealing vessel, is seen off the coast of Cape Breton. (Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)

The federal government has brought in new towing policies for the coast guard in response to several probes into last year's deadly accident involving a disabled sealing vessel off the coast of Cape Breton.

The measures revealed by the government Tuesday include better sharing of information and tracking vessels, and new guidelines for dealing with disabled vessels.

Transport Canada is also developing new fishing-vessel safety regulations that include revised provisions for vessels that may navigate ice-covered waters, the government said in a release.

The 12-metre trawler L'Acadien II, from the Îles de la Madeleine, Que., was being towed on March 29, 2008, by the Sir William Alexander in the Gulf of St. Lawrence when the small boat hit an ice block and capsized.

Four of the six sealers aboard the disabled vessel died. The two surviving sealers were rescued from the frigid waters by a nearby fishing vessel.

The bodies of Capt. Bruno Bourque, Gilles Leblanc and Marc-André Déraspe were recovered. The body of a fourth sealer, Carl Aucoin, was never found.

"The tragic events following the sinking of L'Acadien II near Cape Breton were felt by all Canadians," Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said in a statement Tuesday.

"Since that time, our government has pledged to take all appropriate steps to prevent such incidents in the future."

In its report last November, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said the clutch on the sealing vessel was likely engaged during the tow, causing it to veer sharply off course and into the path of a large slab of ice.

The board called upon the federal Fisheries Department to develop "comprehensive safe towing policies, procedures, and practices that take into account all safety risks associated with towing small vessels in ice-infested waters."

It also called for the Department of Transport to bring in adequate measures to ensure that all fishing vessels operating in ice — including those participating in the seal hunt — are "structurally suited for their operating environment."

At the time of the TSB's report's release, Wayne Dickson, captain of the sealing boat trailing behind L'Acadien II the night of the accident, said he wasn't "satisfied at all" with the report's findings and wanted the coast guard to bear "100 per cent of the blame" for the deaths.

With files from The Canadian Press