Actor Richard Dean Anderson, best known for portraying the quick-thinking handyman hero MacGyver in the TV series of the same name, has taken on a new role to protest the annual seal hunt.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, one of the world's most famous environmental groups, has enlisted Anderson's help as it tries to intensify its international campaign against the annual seal hunt, which starts in a few weeks.

Richard Dean Anderson in Charlottetown Monday.
Richard Dean Anderson in Charlottetown Monday.

Anderson, who recently finished working on the science-fiction series Stargate SG-1, said he's not worried about being used to promote Sea Shepherd's message.

"No, it was my volunteering to be used," Anderson, who is a member of the group's board of directors, said at a press conference in Charlottetown Monday. "Because I understand the power of the media and the power of celebrity.

The American-based group wants to boost the protest against the seal hunt to the level it was in the 1970s and 1980s. It's trying to send a ship filled with protesters to the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to document the birth of harp seals, which it will use in campaign videos.

Paul Watson
Paul Watson

"It's a barbaric and ignorant and cruel industry," the group's founder, Paul Watson, said at Monday's news conference.

"And it can't be justified just because somebody's making a buck off of it."

The Sea Shepherds also belong to a larger coalition that is advocating a boycott of Canadian seafood because of the seal hunt, with an international day of protest planned for March 15.

But with the price of harp seal pelts at an all-time high of up to $70, some fishermen said there's little support for the Sea Shepherds' message on the East Coast.

"This is a legal cull, markets seem to be up," said Ed Frenette of the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association.

"If they're going to protest things, I think they should protest where [seal products are] being sold ... and who's wearing them. Fishermen are simply trying to make a living."

The group formed in 1977 to campaign against the seal hunt.

Its latest campaign got off to a rough start in the Atlantic provinces. Last week in Halifax, its plans were delayed after Transport Canada detained its vessel the Farley Mowat for four days.

When the ship finally set sail to observe the harp seals giving birth, it sprung a leak and had to be escorted by a coast guard ship to Port aux Basques, Nfld.

Once their ship is repaired, the group plans to remain in the region to observe the seal hunt. It expects the expedition to cost about $250,000.