Lennox Island treaty lobster fishery gets underway without government approval

The Lennox Island First Nation lobster treaty fishery launched Saturday.

Treaty fishers set out following a morning ceremony on the island’s harbour, every week after the P.E.I. First Nation introduced it might launch a reasonable dwelling fishery with out authorization from the federal authorities.

The preliminary plan was to set 1,000 lobster traps in the course of the first day of the fishery. However Chief Darlene Bernard mentioned they needed to decrease that concentrate on as a result of a few of the fishers didn’t have sufficient time to organize.

“We did have some points with making an attempt to launch a few our bigger boats, and it was the boat hauler [who] wasn’t comfy to launch our boats as a result of I feel there have been strategies that if he did that he would not launch one other non-Indigenous boat,” she mentioned.

“I do not need to get upset over that. However you realize, if there is a matter, then we’ll cope with that by getting our personal boat hauler and doing our personal hauling of boats … We’re not right here to trigger issues.”

The choice to launch the fishery with out the federal government’s authorization follows two years of negotiations between Lennox Island and the Division of Fisheries and Oceans that broke down final week.

The First Nation has a proper to reap lobster for a reasonable livelihood with out the federal government’s approval as per the Supreme Court docket’s 1999 Marshall ruling, although in a uncommon clarification the courtroom did decide that Ottawa might nonetheless regulate Mi’kmaw fishers if there have been justifiable considerations about conservation and there have been consultations with Indigenous teams.

DFO has mentioned the fishery is unauthorized and subsequently could also be topic to enforcement motion, which might imply lure seizures or fines.

There have been a number of RCMP patrol automobiles stationed close to the harbour in the course of the launch.

Bernard beforehand informed CBC Information that if there was any violence within the water geared toward treaty fishers, the band will contemplate DFO accountable.

On the launch, she mentioned there have been no points with non-Indigenous fishers up to now and that most individuals have been supportive. Bernard mentioned she has additionally beforehand been in talks with the P.E.I. Fishermen’s Affiliation.

“I defined to them, gave all of them the small print of the plan. And I do not suppose anyone sitting within the room might actually say it was unreasonable,” she mentioned.

“Actually there’s frustration … however our rights should not contingent on that, proper? Our rights are right here. We now have the best to a treaty fishery, and we’ll train that proper. However definitely, you realize, DFO, I really feel it is their position to make that area within the business fishery for us.”

‘Symbolic gesture’

The treaty fishery’s present administration plan contains:

• A most of 1,000 traps being put out for the yr, 100 or much less per particular person.

• A timeframe that falls throughout the business season, utilizing the neighborhood’s personal wharf and infrastructure.

• Respect for DFO guidelines with regard to lure dimension and conservation measures.

Fishing shall be restricted to the lobster season. Bernard mentioned they will not fish on Wednesdays or Sundays.

In submit on the band workplace’s Fb web page, Bernard mentioned the treaty fishery doesn’t meet Lennox Island’s wants, however the launch was extra of a “symbolic gesture” to point out how lengthy the First Nation has waited to get their rights applied.

“It is kind of saying to DFO, ‘You’ve got had 20 years, greater than 20 years to cope with a treaty protected fishery, and you have not, however we have to cope with it, as a result of we have to have entry to this useful resource,'” she mentioned. 

“It is for the betterment of our neighborhood and it is to supply livelihoods to our younger individuals and their households. They’re fisher individuals. They need to be concerned within the trade identical to different fisher individuals. And I feel that there is area, and if there is not any area then it must be created.”