Related
Commercial seal hunters from P.E.I., New Brunswick and Nova Scotia will, weather permitting, be back out on the ice Monday, after federal officials reopened the season.
'The ice has been a rather large impediment.'— Luke Legere, DFO
The season opened last Sunday, but was shut down by the Department Fisheries and Oceans not long afterwards because officials believed the quota of 1,300 seals had been killed.
DFO has since determined only about 1,000 seals have been landed.
Officials said ice will be a continuing problem as sealers return to the hunt.
"The ice has been a rather large impediment, you know, contrary to what it was in previous years. I mean, for the past two years we didn't have any ice," said DFO spokesman Luke Legere.
"It seems this year we've gone from one extreme to the other where there's too much ice. It's very hard-packed, very thick, so it's made things really difficult for the fishers to actually get to where the seal herds are."
One P.E.I. boat is taking part in the commercial seal hunt, along with two aboriginal boats from P.E.I., which are licensed separately.
Hunters from Îles de la Madeleine, Que., are also expected to continue their hunt this week. The Quebec season started earlier, but hunters stayed home voluntarily last week after four sealers died when their boat capsized while being towed by the coast guard in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Share Tools
Latest Prince Edward Island News Headlines
- Liquor store discussion heats up legislature
- The Opposition raised questions in the provincial legislature Friday over the decision to close the Wood Islands liquor store. more »
- EI rules will hurt primary trades, says P.E.I. premier
- While reaction continues to brew over Thursday's announcement about changes to the Employment Insurance program, P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz says provincial officials will be meeting with the federal government to discuss how the new rules will affect Islanders. more »
- HST to hit low-income earners hardest
- Although the proposed harmonized sales tax is good for business, it will hit low-income Islanders the hardest when it's rung in next April, said economists. more »
- Charlottetown businessman named to Order of Canada
- Charlottetown's Fred Hyndman was inducted as a member of the Order of Canada Friday. more »
Top News Headlines
- Everest victim's husband says family not seeking government help
- The husband of a Toronto woman who died trying to climb Mt. Everest on Saturday says his family is not seeking government help to cover the cost of bringing his wife's body home. more »
- Employment Insurance review boards to be scrapped
- The federal government is scrapping two review boards used by people appealing decisions made about their employment insurance. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Serial carjacker gets life term for fatal crash
- An Ontario judge was moved to tears while delivering a life prison sentence to a serial carjacker who killed a woman and injured five others after driving a stolen van into her car during a 2010 police chase. more »
- EI rules will hurt primary trades, says P.E.I. premier
- P.E.I. quality of life second-worst, says study
- HST to hit low-income earners hardest
- 902 numbers running out in N.S., P.E.I.
- Islanders worried over EI changes
- Charlottetown businessman named to Order of Canada
- Atlantic Lottery replacing old VLTs
- Tourism P.E.I. handed out $60,000 in free golf passes
- Red Shores Raceway's fastest horse put down
