Raises new questions about progress towards Indigenous reconciliation and who shoulders the costs
It also comes against the backdrop of booming lobster business in the Maritimes: Between 2009 and 2016 the number of lobsters harvested in the region doubled and even still, the average price of a lobster surged to the highest level in a decade, fuelling unprecedented growth,During that time, Canadian lobster export values nearly tripled to $2.15 billion from $803 million, with most of the catch coming from the Maritimes. While the U.S.
He said most of the other students in his high school class left Nova Scotia, seeking opportunities elsewhere in Canada, but he was one of the lucky ones who found a way to stay. Now, people want to come back, Sproul said.Colin Sproul, president, Bay of Fundy Inshore Lobster Association Today, in the district where Sproul’s family fishes for lobster, known as Lobster Fishing Association 35 in the Bay of Fundy, Sproul said there are less than 100 commercial licenses, and 15 belong to First Nations’ communities.
Megan Bailey, an associate professor in the Marine Affairs Program at Dalhousie University, said that from a conservation standpoint, she did not believe the moderate livelihood fishery on its own would have much impact on the fishery. But that hasn’t prevented anger in the community, in part due to more recent declines in local catch levels.
But, he noted, there are exceptions. The federal government can infringe on Indigenous communities’ rights to fish and self-governance, under limited circumstances, such as conservation reasons.Article content continued An angry fisherman who was later charged with assault after an altercation with Sack and a man who allegedly burned the van was also charged, but other incidents remain unresolved.
Sack noted his ancestors were moved off of coastal land during the 1940s under a federal government program known as centralization. Commercial fishermen say that tensions have been brewing for several years before the launch of the “moderate livelihood” fishery. Long before that, Sipekne’katik were laying traps out of season in St. Marys Bay although Sack said it was small in scale.
Sack said the scale of his community’s food, social and ceremonial fishery — another protected Indigenous right — is also minimal, but Sproul and others are quick to point out that that fishery, also in St. Marys Bay, has been the source of controversy before. “They chose to do nothing, hoping we would go away,” Sproul said. “Until now, some of the Donald Trumps of lobster are cheerleading violence,” he added, referring to those who have escalated the conflict.
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