irishspirit
17th January 2011, 17:37
People on the north coast of Labrador say scores of dead seals have been washing ashore since early December.
A conservation officer with the area's Inuit government estimated late last week that hundreds of adult and young seals have died in the area between Hopedale and Makkovik this winter.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is testing the carcasses, but Nunatsiavut conservation officer Ian Winters said many people in the area believe DFO hasn't acted quickly enough.
"I think they should have been up here earlier, if you're asking me. A lot of people said the same thing. So, maybe it's not on top of their agenda," he said.
Usually at this time of year seals are on sea ice south of Hopedale, said Winters, but he said there is very little ice there now.
Last month, people in northern Labrador found the bodies of dead seal pups on the coast.
http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/local/nfld/hundreds_of_dead_seals_in_labrador/8a0967ab
A conservation officer with the area's Inuit government estimated late last week that hundreds of adult and young seals have died in the area between Hopedale and Makkovik this winter.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is testing the carcasses, but Nunatsiavut conservation officer Ian Winters said many people in the area believe DFO hasn't acted quickly enough.
"I think they should have been up here earlier, if you're asking me. A lot of people said the same thing. So, maybe it's not on top of their agenda," he said.
Usually at this time of year seals are on sea ice south of Hopedale, said Winters, but he said there is very little ice there now.
Last month, people in northern Labrador found the bodies of dead seal pups on the coast.
http://news.sympatico.cbc.ca/local/nfld/hundreds_of_dead_seals_in_labrador/8a0967ab