The Sipekne’katik First Nation is moving ahead with another ‘moderate livelihood’ lobster fishery in St. Mary’s Bay this summer.
In a release last week, Chief Mike Sack says the season would run from June 1st to December 15th, with a break from mid-July to early September.
The break would be for the Dalhousie Marine Affairs Program to conduct a conservation study.
Chief Sack says the band will return their nine LFA 34 licenses to the federal government, which he says limits employment in the fishery to 20-25 people.
“If we were to re-arrange those and stay within the same amount of traps and just fish at a different time of year that our smaller boats can utilize, we could have up to 200 people working a year. It’s much better for our community.”
He says there would be fewer traps being used, and less lobster coming out of the waters.
Sack says he’s concerned about violence from non-Indigenous fishers, saying they can’t have a repeat of what happened last fall.
“Last year, commercial fishers took the law into their own hands. I would love to be optimistic and excited for my people, but I’m not sure what we’re up against yet.”
He says the band may ask the United Nations to send peacekeepers to the area to help protect their fishers, and alleges they couldn’t rely on the RCMP or DFO.
The band filed a lawsuit last month with the Nova Scotia Supreme Court, alleging non-Indigenous commercial fishers in Southwestern Nova Scotia ‘harassed and intimidated’ Indigenous fishers,’ stole or damaged their lobster traps, and operated their vessels in a reckless manner’ during last fall’s moderate livelihood fishery.
The lawsuit also alleges that DFO and the RCMP ‘failed to deter or prevent the unlawful acts.’
Meanwhile, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans says they have not received a formal request from the first nation to relinquish their commercial licenses.
In a statement to our newsroom, DFO says fishing must occur within the established seasons, and with DFO authorized licenses.
The statement goes on to say they’re encouraged by ongoing negotiations they’re having with First Nations leaders in Atlantic Canada.
They say they would welcome Chief Sack back to the table at any time, and remain a willing partner in the implementation of Sipekne’katik’s fishing plan.
Also, the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance, which includes members of several commercial fishing associations in Nova Scotia, says they’re concerned about the band’s decision to relinquish their licenses.
They say they support the Indigenous fishers’ right to sell their catch and their licenses and quotas they hold, but they are opposed to anyone selling fish caught outside provincial or federal regulations.
They say working together with Indigenous peoples in the commercial fishery is their goal.
