The captain and first officer of a ship used by a conservation group to protest against Canada’s annual seal hunt have been charged with getting too close to hunters.

The Canadian government plans to bring charges against a conservation group which it said came too close to sealers as it protested against the country’s annual hunt.

Divers searched the icy waters of the Gulf of St Lawrence for a missing seal hunter today after recovering the bodies of three other hunters from a fishing boat that capsized as it was being towed by a coast guard ship.