Supplies low for ice-bound N.L. sealers

Dozens of ice-locked longliners off Newfoundland's coastlines were running low on fuel and supplies Thursday as coast guard vessels worked to free fishermen who have been trapped returning from last week's seal hunt.

With ice starting to pressure the hulls of some vessels, Canadian Coast Guard officers on Wednesday night removed 20 crew members from five longliners.

With some longliners, officials said, supplies of fresh water are now so low that coast guard vessels are aiming to bring supplies for what could be an extended and frustrating operation.

Capt. Windross Banton, aboardthecoast guard ship Henry Larsen, said a change in the weather will be necessary to free some of the longliners that have been stranded.

"The only option right now is to hope for a change in the wind conditions [and] unfortunately that doesn't look good for the next few days," Banton said. "There's not a lot we can do other than monitor the progress."

Conditions not expected to ease for week

The coast guard's Brian Penney said he doesn't expect conditions to let up for another week.

"That's six or seven days with less fuel, less supplies,"he said."There's still a lot of boats there with varying degrees of damage."

The majority of about 100 stranded longliners are off a long stretch of Newfoundland's northeast coast, between St. Anthony on the tip of the Northern Peninsula to Cape Bonavista.

Sealers described ice conditions as the worst they've seen in years.

Heavy ice has been so intense, in fact, that the coast guard vessel Sir Wilfred Grenfell became stuck. The coast guard has reassigned a vessel from Quebec's Lower North Shore to assist in the icebreaking effort.

Ice is also posing problems in the Strait of Belle Isle, which runs between Newfoundland's northern tip and southern Labrador and eastern Quebec.

Snowmobilers are bringing some sealers back to land from vessels trapped close to shore.

'We could be in danger'

Elezar O'Brien, who fishes from L'Anse au Loup, and his crew of three have been stuck since Saturday night about 400 metres from St-Augustine, Que.

"We're not in no immediate danger," O'Brien said Thursday, although his small vessel is running low on fuel and fresh water.

"We're just moving around through the ice a bit, trying to keep her in through the ice so we don't drift ashore. [But] if the wind changes, now we could be in danger, but so far we haven't had any wind since we've been here."

That lack of wind could prolong the frustrating waits that fishermen have had for most of the last week.

Many fishermen particularly those from southern Labrador and northern Newfoundland had complained of heavy ice leading into the one-day hunt last Friday, in which most of the annual quota was taken by sealers from other communities.

The fishermen said the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, which had already postponed by a day the opening of the hunt along the coastal area known as the Front, should have waited for heavy ice to clear.