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Thick ice 'catastrophic' for Magdalen Islands grey seal hunters
Sealers come back empty-handed after ice blocks attempts to reach herds off Nova Scotia coast
Sealers on the Magdalen Islands usually haul in 2,000 grey seals in the short winter hunting season. This year, they did not bring back a single seal, after two failed expeditions out on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Crews that set out in January to hunt for prized grey seals off the coast of Nova Scotia could not get past the thick ice.
Réjean Vigneau, president of the Intra-Quebec Sealers Association, said the team of around a dozen hunters won't make another attempt before the end of the season, which he calls "catastrophic."
"It's also catastrophic for the Magdalen Islands' marine ecosystem," he said. "All the seals are confined in the waters of the estuaries."