Seized anti-sealing vessel to remain in Sydney, N.S.

SYDNEY, N.S. – Canadian taxpayers are now responsible for an anti-sealing vessel seized off the coast of Cape Breton and now docked at an industrial park wharf near Sydney.

The 54-metre Farley Mowat, owned by the Sea Shepherd Society, was seized April 12 by federal fisheries department officers who charged the vessel’s captain and first mate with interfering with the annual seal hunt off Cape Breton.

The vessel and its 17-member crew were brought to Sydney where Captain Alex Cornelissen, 40, of Amsterdam, and first mate Peter Hammerstedt, 23, of Stockholm, spent 24 hours in jail before being released on $10,000 bail. They were deported but are scheduled to return to court July 2 to enter pleas to the charges.

During a provincial court hearing today in Sydney, Judge Peter Ross turned down a federal Crown application to release the vessel to Cornelissen and Hammerstedt provided they post a $50,000 bond.

Crown lawyer Theresa O’Leary argued the Crown would return the vessel to those from whom it was seized, meaning the captain and the first mate.

But lawyer Guy LaFosse, who represents the two accused, said the Crown has failed to produce any evidence proving that the vessel had been seized and from whom. Further, he said, neither of his clients own the property nor are they in any position to assume control over the ship.

Prior to the hearing, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society vowed to bill Canada $1,000 for every day it holds the seized ship. "At no time did my ship ever enter the 12-mile limit," Cornelissen, the ship's skipper, said in a media release. "They had no right to board us and these charges are ridiculous. All we did was take pictures of seals being slaughtered on the ice."

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has said it will send an invoice to the federal Fisheries Department on the 12th of each month, asking for $30,000 for the time the ship is held.