Tag Archives: Indigenous People
Lobster fishing must remain in season – ‘The federal government has allowed a regulatory system with unconstitutional provisions’
Wayne Easter, the P.E.I. MP who chaired the federal fisheries committee looking at moderate livelihood fisheries 21 years ago, says there are still questions to be resolved, but fishing out of season shouldn’t be one of them. In two decisions in 1999, known as Marshall I and Marshall II, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed that Indigenous people have historic treaty rights to moderate livelihood fisheries. Easter’s committee was asked to examine the implications and made 28 recommendations. The current federal fisheries committee has begun another review. >click to read< 10:42
Yelling, cursing, but no physical confrontation – Lobster dispute between Indigenous and commercial fishers boils over again
Another contentious chapter in a very long dispute over Indigenous fishing rights and federal laws on conservation has begun. Thursday saw a handful of Indigenous lobster boats head out of southwestern Nova Scotia to lay traps using ‘licences’ handed out by a local Mi’kmaw chief and not from the federal Fisheries and Oceans Canada department (DFO). Commercial lobstermen in the area staged protests this week saying the Mi’kmaw are fishing out of season and illegally. The fishery is closed as it’s molting season when lobsters renew their shells, and mating season. They say the law closing the fishery for several months is necessary for conservation purposes and fishing at this time is not sustainable. >click to read< 10:11
Pebble Mine: Commercial Fishermen, Indigenous People Unite to Fight Mine in Alaska
The Pebble Mine is a large deposit of gold, copper and molybdenum located at the headwaters of Bristol Bay. The deposit was first discovered in the 1980s and multinational corporations began seriously pursuing its development in the 2000s. Those who want to develop the mine say it will create high-paying jobs for locals and reduce America’s dependence on foreign countries for the provision of raw materials. Opponents say toxic discharge from the mine could foul the home of the world’s largest salmon run, bankrupting the mammoth fishing industry and destroying the local ecology. “It’s one of the unique things about this whole fight,”,,, >click to read< 10:40
