Death of Four Sealers - Coast Guard Incompetence Canada

[Annces]

LES ILES DE LA MADELEINE, Que. -- As the bodies of the three dead seal hunters arrived home by helicopter Wednesday afternoon, the two young survivors of Saturday's maritime tragedy and their rescuer presented a harrowing account of the events of that night.

Gathered at a news conference designed to ease media scrutiny and allow the families time to grieve in peace, Bruno-Pierre Bourque and Carl Deraspe spoke of confusion and a terrified flight from an overturned boat quickly filling with water.

"I was standing in the wheelhouse, except it was upside down because the boat was upside down, and I remember taking a breath, and telling myself wait until the water was up to my ears, because then it would be easier to get out," Mr. Deraspe said. "And I pushed my lips to what was the floor, and took a deep breath and started to swim."

I told myself not to panic, not to waste my energy. When the water came up to my neck I took a deep breathe and held my head up and I said to myself that I shouldn't panic as long as the water wasn't up to my ears. When that happened, I took a deep breathe and I said to myself, ‘You have to get out or you are going to die.' So I started struggling to find the door. I started struggling to orientate myself in the ship and at that point it was completely upside down.

"While I was struggling with my hands to find the door, I thought that I could possibly get out by the small window by the captain's seat. I found the small window and I opened it. A huge piece of ice was in front of the window so I put my feet up against the window and managed to move the piece of ice away.

"I got out through that small window and got up the surface. When I got up to the surface I held onto the boat thinking that if it was going to go down I would probably go down with it.

"There was a three or four foot piece of ice not far away and I swam over to it. I got up on the ice floe thinking that if I died at least my body would be found."

The two were careful not to say that the coast guard icebreaker that was towing their boat when it capsized may have been negligent in its duties -- their lawyer advised them to await the outcomes of the three investigations into the crash. But testimony read from prepared speeches suggested a lack of communication and proper surveillance may have contributed to the tragedy.

Mr. Bourque repeated his earlier claims that he saw no one on the coast guard vessel Sir William Alexander watching his father's 12-metre fishing boat in the five minutes before it capsized. Neither he nor Wayne Dickson, who was piloting a boat behind L'Acadien II and would later scoop the two men from the icy waters, was able to contact the icebreaker despite numerous attempts as the accident was unfolding.


http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=417690

Meanwhile Loyola Hearn, Canada Fisheries Minister is trying to shift the blame onto the Sea Shepherd and also claiming the Sea Shepherd was the aggressor in a bumping incident with the Coast Guard. However the Sea Shepherd was only getting footage of inhumane slaughter of seals, and the Coast Guard infringed on them.

Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn says charges will be laid in connection with an alleged incident involving the seal hunt protest vessel Farley Mowat. Sealers contend that the vessel came too close to them on the ice north of Cape Breton last weekend, even after being warned away by the Coast Guard. Mr. Hearn asserted in an interview with radio station VOCM that the conservation groups broke a law that requires them to maintain a specific distance from the hunt.

“They've been very cute. These people are smart. They've been around. They know the law. They know how they can flaunt it,” Hearn said. “However, they push it and in some cases, recently, they've broken it. They cannot approach within half a mile of our sealers. They have done that.” Protest leader Paul Watson, president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has denied allegations that the Farley Mowat got too close to the hunt and insists his ship was rammed twice by the coast guard icebreaker Des Groseilliers on the weekend.

The Farley Mowat is currently in St. Pierre-Miquelon and remains out of Canadian waters.


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080403.wsealprotest0403/BNStory/National/home?cid=al_gam_mostemail