CHARLOTTETOWN - The East Coast seal hunt has quietly opened in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, beginning another season of anger and protest about the future of the controversial hunt.
Fisheries officials expect only a few boats from the Maritime provinces will hunt for seals on the sparse ice of the southern Gulf, with most of the activity focused on the Cape Breton coast.
Fisheries spokesman Roger Simon says the largest part of the herd this year is concentrated in northern Gulf of St. Lawrence area, between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.
The hunt in that area will begin on Wednesday.
Animal welfare groups are condemning the Canadian government's decision to allow a hunt in the southern Gulf where poor ice conditions have caused unusually high pup mortality.
Newborn seals cannot swim in the first weeks of life and need solid ice to survive.
The total quota for this year's seal hunt is 270,000 animals, 65,000 fewer than last year. Most of the seals will be taken off northern Newfoundland in an area called the Front.
