(the following is an excerpted article...)
Fishermen were told by DFO to harvest seals in sanctuary
By JOCELYN BETHUNE
MAIN-A-DIEU — Nine Cape Breton fishermen facing charges of hunting seals in a wildlife sanctuary were encouraged to harvest there by both the federal and provincial fisheries departments.
"We were encouraging it," Department of Fisheries and Oceans spokesman Gerry Conway said Thursday, a day after the men received summonses from provincial Natural Resources Department conservation officers as they stepped onto the dock Tuesday at Main-a-Dieu, Cape Breton County.
The officers seized 220 seal pelts, a 5.4-metre fishing boat and an all-terrain vehicle. A larger boat was not confiscated.
The pending charges are under the Wildlife Act, the Wilderness Protection Act and the Environment Act. The nine men are to appear in Sydney provincial court May 8.
The men allegedly harvested more than 200 seal pelts from Hay Island, a small outcropping off Scatarie Island, a provincially designated wildlife management area. Because it lies within 1.6 kilometres of Scatarie, Hay Island is automatically included in the management area, a fact that at least two levels of government were unaware of.
"Not only wasn’t this department (DFO) aware that Hay Island was not considered to be part of Scatarie, but the provincial Fisheries Department weren’t aware, because both were encouraging the development of this fishery," Mr. Conway said, adding that when the seal hunt was established, sealers were informed they could harvest grey seals "from Cape North through to the Bay of Fundy. No specific areas were closed to them."
A letter from the Natural Resources Department in 2003 alerted both government departments, Mr. Conway said.
But that doesn’t exonerate the nine fishermen, he said.
As recently as three weeks ago, a group trying to develop a sealing industry in Nova Scotia was lobbing Environment Minister Kerry Morash to allow seals to be harvested on Hay Island.
"The minister advised them that Hay Island is not open to hunting and they subsequently have been advised again and by DFO and DNR officers that there was to be no hunting on Hay Island and they chose to ignore that advice," Mr. Conway said.
Ewen MacIntyre, spokesman for the Natural Resources Department in Coxheath, said DFO regulates the seal fishery and that his department is involved simply due to the location of the hunt.
"As far as we are concerned, the onus is on the sealers to know where they can and cannot hunt," he said.
Victoria-The Lakes MLA Gerald Sampson says he was approached last month by a number of northern Victoria County seal hunters who want Hay Island excluded from the wildlife management designation.
"They told me that they had harvested seals there previously and wanted permission to harvest seals there again," he said, adding he directed them to Mr. Morash and Neil Bellefontaine, a senior DFO official.
"I don’t know if they received permission or if that was the group that was charged," he said...
(photo of a grey seal pup - approximately 4 months old.)
