Tensions are rising on ice floes in the Gulf of St. Lawrence as sealers and protesters clash.

On Friday, a seal hunter fired a rifle into the air shortly after three helicopters carrying anti-sealing activists and photographers landed near a sealing boat.

A group of six sealers aboard the boat began yelling at the dozen or so observers, some of whom were members of the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

The protesters, who are allowed to observe the hunt but must keep at least 10 metres from the sealers, were then approached by a least one sealer who was swinging a gaff, a 30-centimetre stick with a hook.

A shoving match ensued, several shots were fired into the air by a sealer aboard the boat.

The IFAW said in a statement that a sealer rushed toward two protesters with a hakapik, a spiked club used to kill seals. He hit one protester on both the hand and arm.

Then, a snowmobile carrying two sealers drove towards the activists. The Canadian Press reports that the vehicle swung away at the last moment, but the IFAW sid that several members of their group were hit.

The protesters retreated to their choppers.

It was the second violent incident in as many days. Paul Watson, captain of the protest ship Farley Mowat, said he saw one sealer attack a member of his crew on the ice Thursday.

One of the sealers involved in the scuffle told a Canadian Press reporter he was just defending himself.

"Four men came at me, I fell down and when I got up I was underneath, and the only alternative I had was to defend myself,'' said Rendell Genge, captain of the Brady Mariner.

"I just gave him one punch. I wasn't hitting anymore... They had 15 to 20 men on the ice and there were only eight of us.''

The Gulf seal hunt began Tuesday but has been hampered by bad weather. But the weather improved Friday, with bright sunshine and temperatures above freezing.

More seal hunters will descend on the ice floes off the north coast of Newfoundland on April 12.