Seal Hunters Stranded in Ice

April 24, 2007 — -- A rescue effort is under way to save hundreds of seal hunters whose boats have been stuck in a block of thick ice in the North Atlantic Ocean for more than a week.

The hunters' ships are stuck in a solid ice pack 140 miles long and 70 miles wide. Two huge storms trapped more than 100 vessels just as they were setting out for Canada's annual seal hunt.

"Many of the vessels have run out of provisions, fresh water, fuel in some cases," Canadian Coast Guard Capt. Windross Banton told "Good Morning America" from his ship as he engaged in the rescue effort.

Banton is trying to get food to more than 300 sailors and help their ships break free from the ice.

"Right now, outside as far as the eye can see, there is nothing but a field of ice," he said.

The biggest danger is the pressure the ice puts on the vessels. The pressure can actually lift them out of the water.

"The pans of ice and the pieces of ice are big enough and severe enough they could potentially crush the hull of the long liners," said the Canadian Coast Guard's Brian Penney.

Better weather conditions have now allowed several ships to be rescued. For some, it was in the nick of time.

"The last couple of days got scary there," said Rodney Gray, captain of the Cape John Navigator. "We were caught in ice that was getting very close to land. We never had control of anything. Wherever the ice went, we had to go."

These boats are engaged in the highly controversial seal hunt. Over the last three years, 1 million seals have been killed, and animal rights activists say they're sometimes killed in inhumane ways. Now it is the hunters who are in danger.

Animal rights activists might take solace in the fact that because so many ships have been stranded, the seal hunters will most likely not meet their quota. An estimated 60,000 seals have been spared because of the stranded ships.