More than $50,000 of lobsters seized in New Edinburgh

Inspectors with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans seized more than 100 crates of lobsters from a distributor in New Edinburgh, Digby County earlier this month.

On Aug. 9, the department performed a routine inspection resulting in more than $50,000 worth of lobster being seized.

“The lobsters were seized based on the belief that they were purchased and sold without authorization, in violation of the fisheries general regulations,” said Chris Sperry, DFO’s area chief of conservation and protection for southwest Nova Scotia.

The matter is now under investigation, so the department couldn’t name the business in question.

Second incident:

Over a period of days, the De- partment of Fisheries and Oceans continued regular inspections in southwest Nova Scotia.

From Aug. 12 to 18, 128 lobster traps were inspected, resulting in 47 traps seized and 774 lobsters released back into the water due to a number of violations.

DFO Maritimes posted on Twitter that the violations in- cluded size limit, illegal use of bait, blocked escape vents and untagged or invalid tags on traps.

The matter is now under investigation, so the department could not confirm the exact date of the seizures or the exact location, but a spokesperson for DFO confirmed the seizures were in Digby County.