Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 | 3:37 PM ET
Canadian Press

CHARLOTTETOWN (CP) - Fisheries officials are urging seal hunters to be patient as they decide whether there are enough seals and ice in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence for a hunt this year.

Fisheries Department spokesman Phil Jenkins says the ice is poor in the southern Gulf around the Magdalen Islands and there's a higher-than-normal mortality of seal pups.

AP PHOTO/CP, Jonathan Hayward, March 2006

He says it's not certain a hunt can take place this year in the southern Gulf, which is the area that traditionally gives rise to the most controversy because it is accessible to observers and seal hunt protesters.

Jenkins says ice conditions are better in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence and off the northeast coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, in an area called the Front.

Jenkins admits Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn is much later than usual in announcing total allowable catches for the Gulf regions and the Front.

He says the minister is taking his time, reviewing all of the information and weighing his options.

One seal hunt protest group, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, is already calling for the seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence to be cancelled due to poor ice conditions.

© The Canadian Press, 2007