The eco-ship which left Bermuda?s waters three months ago to thwart the seal-hunters off Prince Edward Island, may be returning to the Island after suffering alleged assaults on its crew and arrests on the ice.

The is owned by Sea Shepherd ? an environmental organisation viewed in some circles as an eco-terrorist group.

She left Bermuda in December, 2004, with Bermuda resident Laura Dakin on board to film a documentary about the seal cull.

Ms Dakin is a Cecile?s employee and niece of English Sports Shop managing director David Hamshere.

On Thursday, Ms Dakin and other crew members were arrested following an angry and allegedly violent confrontation on the ice with seal hunters. captain Paul Watson said that Ms Dakin and 18 other crew members had crossed a mile of ice to witness and photograph sealers from the at work. The sealers hunt baby seals for their pelts.

According to Capt. Watson, his crew were then assaulted by the sealers with the clubs they use to kill seals.

Ms Dakin was understood to be uninjured but she was reportedly arrested along with 10 others following the incident.

Capt. Watson ? who was one of the founders of Greenpease ? said the 11 crew members arrested were taken aboard a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, while seven others made it back to the Farley Mowat.

According to the Sea Shepherd website (), Dakin and the others appeared in court in Charlottetown,PEI on Friday and were released without bail.

The report on the group?s web-site said a Canadian prosecutor had asked for $1,000 bail for each of the crew but they protested and threatened to remain in jail and to begin a hunger strike.

Reports in the Canadian media, however, said that only three crew members were arrested for being too close to the sealing vessels, although more arrests were possible.

Some of the crew members arrested have since returned to their homes but understands that Ms Dakin and six others returned to the ship on Saturday.

Capt. Watson is now pondering the eco-group?s next move.

The may have no option but to return to Bermuda.

?The ship is not welcome in a Canadian port nor can it return to a port in the United States,? Capt. Watson said.

He would like to continue to fight the seal hunt by heading to the Labrador Front, off the Northern coast of Newfoundland.

While the seal slaughter in the Gulf of St. Lawrence is over, another will begin at the Labrador Front on April 12, the group said.

?The problem is that we don?t have the fuel, the provisions, or the crew to do that at this point,? Capt. Watson said.

?The ice is thicker, the seas more treacherous, the sealing ships more numerous, the government more hostile, and the sealers more brutal on the Front than in the Gulf.

?Not a single protestor has gone there since Sea Shepherd last confronted them on the Front in 1983.

?If we could get the support in the next few days, we are more than ready and willing to tackle the Newfoundland sealing fleet off the Northern Newfoundland Coast.?

If such support can be found, the crew of the would have time to make a port call in Bermuda to take on fuel and provisions for a return voyage to Canada, he said.

The group is claiming success in their efforts to disrupt the seal hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The website said of the 90,000 seals in the quota allotted for the hunt in that area, only 25,000 seal pups were killed.

?It is safe to say the seal slaughter in Gulf of St. Lawrence has been a disaster for the sealers this year,? the website said.

The group is also claiming that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have launched a criminal investigation into the sealers? actions but was unable to confirm that claim by Press time last night.