It's unfortunate. This year, for instance, the harvest started on Wednesday. Good Friday was two days later. Not every year, but frequently, Easter runs into the main part of the sealing season on the front, especially. The gulf is usually finished by then. Of course, for federal bureaucrats, Good Friday and Easter Monday are holidays. The majority of sealers understand that Good Friday is a holiday. They expect nobody to be around. And if Saturday morning.... I mean, they're willing to wait one day, but to expect sealers to stay for all this time in northern Newfoundland off Labrador in the ice conditions that may or may not be there shouldn't be expected.
I'm not sure that it wasn't done intentionally. The gulf zone was far over. Was it done intentionally to slow down the front sealers to not allow the animals to be taken? I'm not sure.
It's not that there are no people at DFO. There are people there, certainly. It is false to say there isn't anybody there. There are people. However, the people who are needed to make a decision are not available, so they have to wait until Tuesday for that decision.