Despite a court order, scores of Canadian fishing boats continued to surround a ferry carrying tourists to Alaska early Monday in a dispute over American salmon fishing.
The 300 passengers aboard the Malaspina spent the weekend caught in the tangled net of the Canada-U.S. "salmon war." Some 150 Canadian fishing boats had circled the ferry after it docked Saturday.The blockade continued despite a court order for the boats to move and allow the northbound ferry to leave for its next stop, Ketchikan, Alaska. A southbound ferry, scheduled to stop in Prince Rupert, instead skipped that stop and headed straight to Bellingham, Wash.
The fishermen have refused to move until they can talk with Canadian Fisheries Minister David Anderson, who was expected to arrive here today.
They also want a guarantee that they would not be held liable for damages arising from the blockade.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police gave the fishermen copies of Sunday's court order, but it was not clear whether the officers would try to enforce it. A woman answering the telephone early today at the local RCMP office said any comment would have to come from a spokesman later in the day.
The dispute centers on Alaskans who catch sockeye salmon bound for Canadian rivers and streams. The Canadians want Anderson to restart failed salmon talks with the United States and allow northern British Columbia fishermen to increase their take of Fraser River sockeye.
They also want U.S. boats along the northern coast to pay a fee.
Bob King, a spokesman for Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, said the dispute was keeping tourists away, not only from Alaska but from Canada.
"These tourists, instead of being treated as guests, they're being treated as pawns in a political game, and I don't think they're going to respond very well to that," he said.
The passengers spent Saturday night in hotels and then re-boarded Sunday.
About 300 fishermen rallied in Prince Rupert as Alaska officials found a Canadian federal judge in Montreal to order an end to the blockade.
The blockade sparked a diplomatic flurry in Washington and Ottawa.