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TORONTO, Ontario (AP) -- Canada's contentious annual seal hunt has begun, but heavy ice hampered the hunt in its early hours.
A harp seal pup lies on an ice floe this week in Canada's Gulf of St. Lawrence. The seal hunt began Friday.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada spokesman Phil Jenkins said 16 vessels headed to the ice floes in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence before dawn Friday.
Jenkins said only a small number of seals have been killed so far because of heavy ice conditions. The sealers "are still quite a distance from a herd," he said.
Animal rights groups are receiving observer permits and expect to monitor the hunt later Friday.
Sealers and the fisheries department defend the hunt, saying it provides supplemental income for isolated fishing communities in Canada.
But animal rights groups argue it is cruel and ravages the seal population. E-mail to a friend 
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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