Tensions are rising in southwest Nova Scotia over unauthorized lobster fishing this summer in St. Marys Bay near Digby, with commercial fishermen and local MPs likening the situation to 2020 — when violence erupted over unauthorized Indigenous harvesting.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) said in social media posts it is monitoring lobster fishing in the area and has seized 321 lobster traps this summer. In response to a request from CBC News, the department later said the number was actually higher — 464 traps in lobster fishing areas 33 and 34 in southern Nova Scotia.
The commercial season there is closed. DFO did not respond when asked if anyone had been charged. It said it is still investigating.
Lobsters were released live back in the ocean, but the number of traps seized is a fraction of what is being harvested illegally, says Colin Sproul of Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance, which represents some commercial fishermen.
“As sad as it is to say, we’re fast approaching the situation of 2020 in advance of the fishery crisis. There’s uncontrolled industrial-scale fishing in St. Marys Bay and in adjacent waters with little to no enforcement effort,” Sproul said.
A small-scale food, social and ceremonial (FSC) fishery in St. Marys Bay is permitted, but the most prominent First Nation fishing in the area, the Sipekne’katik, has rejected its 2023 FSC limit of 45,000 pounds allowed by DFO.
In a May letter to DFO, the band said the FSC limit was made without adequate consultation and is an infringement of their rights, which also include the treaty right to earn a moderate living from fishing.
The Sipekne’katik suit asserts DFO has no grounds to interfere with their rights-based fishing because there is no proof it puts lobster at risk.
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled Mi’kmaq have a right to earn a moderate livelihood from fishing, but the government has the right to regulate that fishery for conservation and other purposes.