Tag Archives: Nova Scotia
Mi’kmaw negotiator advocates for reduction in commercial catches to bolster treaty fishery
A top Mi’kmaw negotiator insisted commercial catches should be reduced anyway to ensure the treaty right is realized, while the president of a commercial fishermen’s association responded that enough has been done and the failure rests with Ottawa and First Nation leaders. “You heard from the chiefs, the buy-back program hasn’t been successful. So maybe at this point, Canada and DFO have to be more aggressive in taking back access 
for the Mi’kmaw people and Indigenous people,” Janice Maloney told the committee. Colin Sproul, president of the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliances, challenged the demand. Sproul represents 1,900 commercial fishermen. “It’s clearly unfair and un-Canadian to repossess access to the fishery from coastal communities without any consultation or compensation,” Sproul said. >click to read< 17:31
Fisherman from N.S. witnesses heavy damage as he delivers aid in Ukraine
A Nova Scotia fisherman has arrived in Ukraine to help deliver aid to his homeland during the Russian assault on the country. Lex Brukovskiy has a family and lobster-fishing business in Meteghan, N.S., but comes from the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where his mother still lives. He raised money in Nova Scotia earlier this month and is now volunteering to deliver aid to people. “Last trip, for example, we delivered medications to Kharkiv and picked up one wounded soldier and a couple of women and children. They also wanted us to load some dogs and cats, but we ran out of room,” >click to read< and listen to the audio report. 19: 15
An Update on Canadian Lobsterman Lex Brukovskiy in Ukraine
Though the air raid sirens shatter his rest, Canadian fisherman Lex Brukovskiy says he’s feeling a sense of calm being back in Ukraine to help his war-ravaged homeland. “Sitting back home and watching it, it was hard,” he said in an interview on Monday. And on Tuesday, he said in a followup telephone interview he’s been assigned a van to drive in a convoy that will make its way to besieged cities in eastern Ukraine with humanitarian supplies before bringing refugees back to safety. “I feel a lot more useful here.” “I’m just doing my part, helping out. He estimates that he’s currently working with about US$20,000 in donations that has come in from friends, fishers and acquaintances, many of them from Meteghan. >click to read the article< 17:55
F/V Mucktown Girl: TSB weighing what steps they will take next, including opening an investigation
The F/V Mucktown Girl halibut boat went down off the coast of Canso, N.S., on Sunday. Four of its five crew members were rescued by the Canadian Coast Guard, but the fifth man fell off a life raft as the crew was being transferred to a coast guard vessel around 6:30 a.m. Sunday. The fisherman, Jeremy Hart of Windsor Junction, N.S., was eventually pulled out after spending five hours in the ocean but died in a hospital on Sunday. Board spokesperson Chris Krepski said Tuesday the TSB has been notified of the situation and is assessing what the next steps will be. >click to read< 22:17
Sister confirms death of fisherman who spent five hours in waters off eastern Nova Scotia
A commercial fisherman who was lifted from the ocean after spending five hours in frigid waters off eastern Nova Scotia has died, a family member confirmed Monday. In an interview, Alana Lewis said her brother, 35-year-old Jeremy Hart of Windsor Junction, N.S., died at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday after being found by a rescue team. “When they found him he was unresponsive, but at that point they still had hope that they could save him,” Lewis said. “But they were unable to get his core temperature back up and he passed away.” She said an autopsy was being conducted Monday, adding that Hart had only joined the crew of the halibut fishing vessel F/V Mucktown Girl last Thursday. >click to read< 15:14
Missing fisherman found off Nova Scotia coast – Fishing vessel was being towed by the Coast Guard
A fisherman who went missing in the waters off Canso, N.S., has been found. The crew member had fallen off a life raft Sunday morning as a crew of five was being transferred to a coast guard vessel. The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre said on Twitter just after 2 p.m. AT that a search and rescue crew aboard a Cormorant helicopter found the missing fisherman and transported him to Sydney, N.S., for medical care. The crew members from the vessel were all wearing immersion suits, the centre said in an earlier tweet. The Canadian Coast Guard said the Mucktown Girl is a 15-metre longliner,,, >click to read< 15:02
Atlantic Canada snow crab fishery hopes for another banner year
But concern over high fuel prices, fear of U.S. recession dampens hopes for one Nova Scotia processor. The snow crab fishery in Atlantic Canada is gearing up in hopes of another banner season in 2022, buoyed by expectations of more quota, high prices and less competition from rival nations. But will rising inflation, especially in the United States, and uncertainty over the war in Ukraine dampen the spectacular returns in 2021 when the fishery was valued at nearly a billion dollars? >click to read< 10:04
Lobster fisherman from Ukraine now living in Meteghan, returning home to help family
When the war in Ukraine first broke out, Lex Brukovskiy immediately thought about his mother in the city of Lviv, more than 6,400 kilometres from his home in Meteghan, a small fishing village on Nova Scotia’s St. Marys Bay. The 38-year-old has decided to return to his native land in an effort to help his family and the growing number of refugees entering from Ukraine into Poland. Brukovskiy has no idea how long he will be away from his home in 
Meteghan, where his two teenage boys live. He is a lobster boat captain and is leaving in the middle of the lucrative lobster season in southwestern Nova Scotia. Brukovskiy has now hired a temporary captain to operate his boat for the remaining three months of the season and his crew will remain employed. >click to read< 19:41
‘Alarm bells’ ring in N.S. lobster fishery decision after DFO’s move involving baby eels
A group representing more than 500 lobster fishermen in southwest Nova Scotia is raising concerns about Ottawa’s commitment to voluntary licence buyouts to increase Indigenous access to the fishery. Late last month, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans cancelled bargaining with commercial licence holders in the elver, or baby eel, fishery, claiming they wanted too much money to exit the business. DFO is now looking at an across the board commercial quota cut for elvers without compensation to make room for Mi’kmaw harvesters. >click to read< 13:23
Canada considers quota cut on commercial elver eel fishery to increase Mi’kmaw access
The federal government is considering cutting the commercial elver quota by 14 per cent this year to increase Mi’kmaw access to the lucrative Maritime fishery for baby eels. Ottawa has cancelled negotiations to buy out commercial licence holders. The bargaining was an attempt to make room for Indigenous participation without increasing fishing effort. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans notified the industry of its intentions late last month. In recent years, Mi’kmaw bands have been demanding a piece of the action. That has led to numerous riverside confrontations between Mik’maw, claiming a treaty right, and DFO officers. >click to read< 09:34 Nova
Spring Fishing Ramping Up After Harsh Winter Weather
With two months to go before the six-month commercial lobster season closes in lobster fishing areas (LFA) 33 and 34, the fishing fleet will be back on the water in full force come April in southwestern Nova Scotia. Going into March, the fishery had slowed to a crawl with severe winter storms keeping the fleet ashore and even prompting some fishermen to land their gear. “February has been a challenge, the weather,” said Tommy Amirault, president of the Coldwater Lobster Association. “I think a lot of people are encouraged by the price, but the weather has been an issue. It’s slowed the fishery down and that’s probably a factor in the price.” >click to read< 13:03
DFO tracking project has tagged 3,000 lobsters over multiple N.S. fishing areas
Department of Fisheries and Oceans is hoping Nova Scotia lobster fishermen can be persuaded to throw back some of their catch this spring. Specifically, any lobsters decorated with a blue ribbon. The ribbons are part of a large-scale tagging project launched last summer that aims to track movement patterns amid changing ocean conditions. While previous tagging studies have focused on smaller areas, this one covers a large stretch of Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast, from the northern tip of Cape Breton to an area around Halifax, said Ben Zisserson, a lobster biologist with DFO. >click to read< 07:48
‘Definitely the most difficult rescue I have been on’ recalls a rescuer of F/V Atlantic Destiny crew
Daniel Domonkos will always remember the moment he and his SAR tech crew first laid eyes on the ill-fated F/V Atlantic Destiny a year ago. Seeing the stricken vessel being tossed around in the waves “like a little toy,” the flight engineer immediately wondered, “How are we supposed to get anyone off that boat?” And not just one person, but 31 of them. It was a miraculous scene that later played out at the Yarmouth International Airport as crew members of the Atlantic Destiny and their rescuers stepped out of helicopters to safety, the warmth of those moments only interrupted by the bone-chilling bitter cold. Photos, Video, >click to read< 08:08
Canadian lobster exports have biggest year ever, topping $3.2B last year
The value of Canadian lobster exports topped $3.2 billion last year, the highest ever and more than $700 million higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to new trade data. Soaring sales of Canadian frozen and processed lobster in the United States during 2021 accounted for most of the increase. “We had a very strong bounce back from the pandemic as people ate premium protein that they bought in grocery stores. They wanted healthy food, they wanted safe food and they wanted a treat. So they buy lobster,” said Geoff Irvine, executive director of the Lobster Council of Canada, an industry trade group. >click to read< 07:57
Mi’kmaw fisher won’t participate in restorative justice process
A plan by Crown prosecutors to put a restorative justice process in place for non-Indigenous fishermen accused of assault and arson will not include the Mi’kmaw fisher who was surrounded by a mob while he was inside a lobster pound. The Mi’kmaw fisherman who has not spoken to the media about the process has told the Crown he wants nothing to do with the process. Almost two years ago, lobster harvesters from Sipekne’katik First Nation exercised their treaty right to fish, launched their self-regulated fishery at Saulnierville wharf, in southwestern Nova Scotia. “It’s a double standard it’s unreal,” says Sipekne’kativ First Nation Chief Mike Sack. “I don’t even like using the word Canadian anymore.” Sack says he doesn’t believe justice will be served by going this route. Video, >click to read< 07:33
N.S. MP Rick Perkins grilled federal fisheries minister over clawback of COVID-19 help paid to fishermen
Conservative fisheries critic Rick Perkins grilled Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray Thursday over her department’s clawback of COVID-19 assistance paid to thousands of fishermen, but the exchange may be more remembered for his “confrontational and aggressive” questions and interruptions than the answers. “Six years I’ve been a parliamentarian, I have never seen a more rude member of parliament to a witness. Ever,” said Dartmouth Liberal MP Darren Fisher. “He was extremely rude.” Perkins pressed Murray at the parliamentary fisheries committee meeting on DFO’s decision to claw back a fish harvester benefit. The benefit was paid to crew members across Canada who are paid a share of the catch. >click to read< 11:01
Facebook to begin laying cable through fishing grounds off Nova Scotia
Installation of a transatlantic submarine telecommunications cable for tech giant Facebook on the seabed off southern Nova Scotia is set to begin as soon as this week. The Canadian portion of the route will take the cable through fishing grounds and the Fundian Channel, an area being considered for designation as a Marine Protected Area because of its deepsea corals and sponges. Fishing groups in Nova Scotia say their feedback was ignored, including a suggested routing that would avoid key fishing grounds. “The consultation here was largely non-existent,” said Kris Vascotto with the Atlantic Groundfish Council, which represents large fishing companies in the region. >click to read< 09:06
Meta to install controversial sea-floor cable – Canadian fishermen say Mark Zuckerberg’s company has gone over their heads It’s not clear who besides Meta will have access to the 3.8cm-wide (1.5-inches) fiber optic cable, or what they will have to pay the multi-billion-dollar company for the privilege of using it. >click to read<
Edward Scissorhands has a new home!
Ripley’s Aquarium in Toronto has been making a habit out of rescuing lobsters lately, and their most recent rescue isn’t just a rare cool colour: he actually has three claws. They’ve named the lobster Edward Scissorhands, or just Edward for short. He has three claws, and they can all be controlled independently. The lobster comes to them from Lobster Hub Inc., which is actually a food wholesaler that Ripley’s has taken lobsters from before. Video, >click to read< 10:25
Restorative justice to be used in resolving charges in ransacking Nova Scotia lobster pound
Restorative justice is being used to help resolve a case involving 25 people accused of ransacking a Nova Scotia lobster pound at the centre of a dispute over Indigenous fishing rights. The Pubnico pound was storing lobster caught by members of the Sipekne’katik First Nation, which angered commercial fishers because the harvest was conducted outside the federally regulated season. Reached for his reaction to Friday’s development, Sipekne’katik Chief Mike Sack expressed surprise and called the referral to restorative justice a “cop out” and a way for the accused to avoid consequences. Video, >click to read< 07:38
Plans underway by mother, Yarmouth for memorials to six Nova Scotia fishermen lost at sea
Plans are underway by a mother and the town of Yarmouth, N.S., for memorials to six fishermen who died when their scallop dragger sank off the province’s southwestern coast 14 months ago. Lori Phillips, Aaron Cogswell’s mother, has ordered a stone monument to be installed in the Delaps Cove area as a place to remember her son, and it also has the names and images of the other fishermen on it. She used funeral funds provided by the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia, and some of her own money, to pay the $6,000 cost of the stone monument, which was delivered at a reduced price. On the stone is a photo of the dragger and photos of all the crew, and it is written, “these six men held important roles in the lives near and dear to them.” >click to read< 10:26
Lucy The Lobster To Make Virtual Groundhog Day Prediction
It won’t be a groundhog determining if there are six more weeks of winter in southern Nova Scotia. Lucy the Lobster will be crawling out of the Atlantic on February second to make a virtual prediction as part of the Nova Scotia Lobster Crawl festival. Lucy will make her prediction at the Cape Sable Island Causeway. >click to read< 10:14
As lobster population booms off Canada, tensions rise between Indigenous and commercial fishermen
Under the close watch of federal officers on surrounding patrol vessels, Robert Sack navigated his old boat toward his clandestine traps in the cold waters that his people have fished for centuries, expecting to be arrested at any moment.,, Each trap had a special tag belonging to their band of the Indigenous Mi’kmaw people, who insist that a 269-year-old treaty grants them the right to fish when and how they want. But the government has rejected their assertion, and officers have seized their traps, confiscated their boats, and even arrested some of their fishermen. >click to read< 07>14
UFCA President Says Important Days Coming In Court
The group representing 2,000 commercial fishing stakeholders in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick have been granted intervener status in several Indigenous court cases. The latest came in December in a notice of application brought forward by the Sipekne’katik First Nation to the Supreme Court of Canada. The band’s application is against the federal government, challenging their regulation and enforcement of Indigenous fisheries. UFCA President Colin Sproul says these are the most vital court cases since the Marshall Decision. He says the UFCA’s goal is to have one set of rules for all fishers, within established seasons, and they are committed to a peaceful solution with all parties involved. >click to read< More UFCA >click< 14:26
Jordan’s moonlighter lobster licence decision deep-sixed
A 69-year-old Nova Scotia lobster fisherman who wants to sell his licence so he can take care of his two adult children with cerebral palsy has won a judicial review of the former fisheries minister’s decision to reject the transaction. Donald Publicover took the federal government to court after Bernadette Jordan, then fisheries minister, decided Aug. 5, 2020, to turn down the Brookside man’s request for an exemption to transfer his Category B lobster licence, Jordan, fisheries minister until she was defeated by Conservative Rick Perkins in South Shore-St. Margarets last fall turned down that request in a letter dated Aug. 5, 2020. Jordan’s decision was “unreasonable,” according to the judge. >click to read< 10:05
Nova Scotia: Prosecutors add charges for 25 in lobster pound riot
Prosecutors have added more charges against 25 people accused of entering and ransacking a Nova Scotia lobster pound at the centre of a dispute about an Indigenous self-regulated fishery. Crown lawyer Robert Kennedy, however, said in an interview Tuesday the prosecution is willing to discuss “resolutions” for “at least some” of the accused, which would avoid further court proceedings. In January 2021, the RCMP announced that 23 people were facing a charge of break and enter, with eight also charged with mischief, for their roles in the Oct. 14, 2020, incident at the facility in Middle West Pubnico, N.S. >click to read< 14:55
Caretakers of their waterways: Two Nova Scotians granted visionary awards
Dec. 9 Darren and Erica Porter were freezing their keesters off in their aluminum dory as academics and fisheries managers with the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment bestowed a Visionary Award on him via Zoom. The other Nova Scotian recipient of the award was further up the Bay of Fundy. Like Porter, through his years working with the Clean Annapolis River Project, Levi Cliché has learned as much about working with people and institutions as he has about the ecosystem he cares for. >click to read< 10:38 More posts of Darren Porter and real activism to stop tidal turbines and fighting for the safe passage of fish, >click to read them all<.
Hearts broken and fears realized when the Saulis crew didn’t come home – A Year Later
Dec. 15 marks the one-year anniversary of the sinking of F/V Chief William Saulis scallop vessel, a tragedy that took the lives of six men and forever changed the lives of so many more. We still think about the crew. We still think about their families. We still think about the fishing communities that are deeply touched and heartbroken when those who make their living on the water do not come back home. Those aboard were Capt. Charles Roberts, Aaron Cogswell, Daniel Forbes, Michael Drake, Geno Francis and Leonard Gabriel. It was reported there had been no distress call made. photos, >click to read< 17:59 By Tina Comeau
Investigation leads to 66 halibut fishing charges in Nova Scotia
As a result of a 24-month major case investigation in the Sambro area of Nova Scotia, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has laid 66 charges related to the illegal possession and sale of harvested halibut. On December 13, a total of 41 charges were laid at the Halifax Provincial Court for offences under the Fisheries Act and the Atlantic Fishery Regulations, 1985. This is in addition to a total of 25 charges which were laid on January 7, 2021. In total, eight individuals and five companies have been charged in relation to this investigation. >click to read< 16:42
The ‘Lobster Trap’, Part II – Protests and Prayers
When she heard the news, in the middle of her shift selling tickets at the ferry terminal, Cathy Watt broke down in tears. The U.S. government had just ordered the unprecedented closure of a 1,000 square-mile swath of ocean off Maine’s coast to traditional lobster fishing for four months a year, starting in October. It was a crushing consequence of climate change: Warming oceans have hastened an endangered whale’s journey to the brink of extinction, and now Maine fishermen would pay the price. photos, video, part II of a series, >click to read< 09:49 ‘The Lobster Trap’ >click to read<
UFCA Granted Intervenor Status In Sipekne’katik Court Case
The Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance has been granted intervenor status in another court case involving indigenous fisheries. They will be part of the Notice of Application brought by the Sipekne’katik First Nation against the Attorney General of Canada to challenge the regulation and enforcement of Indigenous fishing activities. UFCA President Colin Sproul discusses why it’s important for them to be involved. >click to read< 09:12
