Growing tension in N.S. fishery
Non-Aboriginal fishermen protest against Indigenous lobstermen
There is growing tension between lobster fishermen in southwestern Nova Scotia over the Indigenous ceremonial and food fisheries.
As a series of protests got underway Thursday, the president of the Coldwater Lobster Association, Bernie Berry, said some Indigenous fishermen are taking unfair advantage of their right to continue fishing outside of the regular commercial season, which ended May 31.
“There’s large volumes of lobster being landed (and sold), and they’re using the food and ceremonial fishery as a cloaking device to get away with it,” Berry said in an interview from Yarmouth, N.S. “The bottom line is that it is not allowed.”
In 1990, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a landmark ruling — the Sparrow decision — that found the Musqueam First Nation has a right to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes. The court also found that right takes priority over other uses of the resource, but conservation must be considered.
Berry stressed that nonIndigenous fisherman are not opposed to the food and ceremonial fisheries, but he insisted the federal Fisheries Department must put a stop to what he described as rapidly growing black market.
“The First Nations have a right for a food and ceremonial fisheries, (and) they won that through Supreme Court decisions, and nobody’s contesting that,” Berry said. “Unfortunately, there’s some people taking advantage of it ... They’re creating a commercial fishery.”
The federal Fisheries Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Michael Sack, chief of the 2,500-member Sipekne’katik First Nation, said he wasn’t aware of any members of his band harvesting and selling lobster out of season.
However, Sack said there could be some Mi’kmaq fishermen who are selling lobster on the side, which means they are only exercising their right to earn a moderate living from the fishery — as spelled out by the Supreme Court of Canada in its Marshall decision.