Tag Archives: Maritime region
DFO ordered to improve officer gear to counter threat from ‘criminals’ with firearms
In a report issued Friday to the Fisheries Department, the federal Labour Program’s compliance unit concludes “protective equipment and tactical protocols” currently used during fisheries investigations are inadequate. The investigator concludes fishery officers in the Maritime region are having to confront people with weapons, including cases where intelligence indicates the fisher “keeps an assault rifle on board.” The report also says there are cases where “outlaw motorcycle gangs are armed with firearms.” It concurs with fishery officers that “a number of the illegal fishers that officers deal with regularly are convicted violent criminals and have threatened officers directly and on social media.” Doug Wentzell, the federal Fisheries Department’s regional manager for the Maritimes, said in an interview last week that a number of officers have refused field work, but he declined to say how many. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 10:45
Put rules in writing to fix Maritime elver fishery’s enforcement problem, say businesses
Representatives of the $45-million Maritime elver fishery are calling on the federal government to implement enforceable regulations for moderate livelihood fishing by Indigenous people. They told a Senate committee in Ottawa Thursday the failure to define or regulate moderate livelihood rights by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is one reason for the uncontrolled harvest of baby eels on dozens of rivers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. “Among these poachers are First Nations unwilling to work with DFO to access the fishery under a banner of moderate livelihood rights, backed by organized crime, specifically biker gangs and foreign smuggling networks. Our once peaceful industry has recently faced violent disruption,” said Genna Carey, a commercial licence holder speaking on behalf of the Canadian Committee for a Sustainable Eel Fishery, an industry group. more, >>click to read<< 09:29
