Tag Archives: self-regulated fishery

Potlotek First Nation seeking injunction to prevent DFO from interfering with self-regulated fishery

Nova Scotia commercial fishermen will find out Friday whether they can intervene in a court case that tests the federal government’s authority to regulate a Mi’kmaw lobster fishery. The Potlotek First Nation is seeking an injunction to prevent the DFO from interfering with its self-regulated moderate livelihood lobster fishery. The Cape Breton band wants a court declaration that enforcement of the federal Fisheries Act infringes on its treaty right to earn a moderate living from fishing. Justice John Keith said he will issue a decision Friday afternoon. Colin Sproul, a spokesperson for the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance, “All I can say is that we’re really happy to have the opportunity to share our perspectives with the court, but I can’t really comment much more than that while there are the issues before the court,”  >click to read< 22:40

Potlotek First Nation seeks injunction against DFO over self-regulated fishery

A number of First Nations communities in the province, including Potlotek, launched their own self-regulated lobster fisheries last year to mark the 21st anniversary of the historic Supreme Court of Canada decision that affirmed Mi’kmaw rights to fish for a moderate livelihood. Many commercial fishermen have opposed the fisheries operating outside commercial seasons. In March, federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan said Ottawa will not licence any treaty-based fishery in Atlantic Canada unless it operates within the commercial season. >click to read< 10:15

Three people to appear in court following N.S. fishing dispute

An Indigenous band councillor and two fishermen are due to appear Monday in a Nova Scotia courtroom. Brandon Maloney is facing charges of unsafe operation of a vessel in relation to a September 20th incident on the water, after a Mi’kmaq First Nation launched a self-regulated fishery in the southwest corner of the province. Chief Mike Sack of Sipekne’katik said the band would fund a legal defence for the 34-year-old, who was fisheries manager for the First Nation at the time. >click to read< 08:30