Some fishermen and politicians in Nova Scotia are expressing mounting frustration over the size of unauthorized lobster fishing within the southwestern a part of the province.
Colin Sproul, of the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance, calls the present scenario in St. Marys Bay “outrageous” and dismisses stories of enforcement by federal fishery officers as “patently untrue.”
With the business season at present closed, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans stated in a social media publish on Monday that its officers had seized 321 lobster traps in southwestern Nova Scotia since July 17 for non-compliance with laws.
But Sproul maintains an “industrial level” business fishery continues to be going down within the bay, though he couldn’t say by whom.
Last week, native Conservative MPs Chris d’Entremont and Rick Perkins wrote to federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier saying that pressing motion is required to fight unlawful poaching.
St. Marys Bay was the scene of confrontation in September 2020 when the Sipekne’katik First Nation began a pioneering self-regulated lobster fishery.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Aug. 29, 2023.
