Tag Archives: Nova Scotia Fisheries Minister Steve Craig

Nova Scotia lobster pound owner wins appeal of ‘grossly disproportionate’ 2-year suspension

The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has overturned a two-year ban from the lobster business imposed on a pound owner caught with lobster harvested under an Indigenous licence that does not permit selling the catch. Justice Pierre Muise said the penalty imposed on Tyler Nickerson, owner of Fisher Direct in Shag Harbour, N.S., was overkill. “The grossly disproportionate severity of the sanction imposed in the case at hand, and the lack of any discernible reasonable justification for it, make it such that the minister’s decision was arbitrary,” Muise said in a decision released Tuesday. >>click to read<< 15:08

Nova Scotia fishermen on the hook for gear destroyed by historic wildfires

A volunteer firefighter who battled one of Nova Scotia’s biggest wildfires must now shell out thousands of dollars to replace the fishing gear he lost to the flames. Kevin Doane says the fire that burned more than 200 square kilometres in southwest Nova Scotia in late May and June destroyed about $61,000 worth of his lobster fishing gear. Recently, the Nova Scotia government announced a $2,500 grant for aquaculture operators, harvesting businesses, and licensed fish buyers and processors affected by the wildfires. Doane, a lobster fisherman of nearly 50 years, equates the $2,500 grant to “a really big insult.” >click to read< 15:29

‘Woefully inadequate’: N.S. announces $2,500 grant for fishers impacted by wildfires

More than two months after the Shelburne County wildfire, local fishers are still facing uncertainty around what gear they will have ready in time for lobster season. The loss of one million dollars’ worth of all types of fishing gear for 17 local fishers means an impact on the industry can be expected come fall. “For lobster season, it’s not like it just happens,” explained Dan Fleck. “The gear has to be received in plenty of time and to be repaired and to make the trawls, to rig it, to get everything done. “It’s a busy time. It’s not just the opening of the season, it’s the month or two leading up to it to get everything ready.” >click to read< 17:53