SAULNIERVILLE, N.S. — First Nation fishermen continued to set traps and commercial fishermen continued to cut them throughout the weekend.
A Canadian Coast Guard helicopter circled overhead the hundreds of Mi’kmaw and their supporters encamped at the Saulnierville wharf on Sunday afternoon.
Locals parked on a bluff overlooking the wharf, with its command posts set up by the Sipekne’katik First Nation and guarded by checkpoints. Volunteers ladled out soup to the fishermen and helpers who worked on boats and prepared new traps in what has become a high stakes battle of attrition.
“DFO is letting them get away with committing a crime,” Sipekne'katik Chief Mike Sack said.
The chief of the Sipekne’katik First Nation spoke with federal Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan on Saturday. But he said she offered nothing that would bring an end to the current impasse.
Twenty-one years after the Marshall decision in the Supreme Court of Canada, no fisheries minister of either political stripe has negotiated with the Mi’maw on how to implement their right to make a moderate livelihood off the natural resources surrounding them.
The largely non-aboriginal commercial fishermen from the communities surrounding St. Mary’s Bay contend that the small fleet inside the Saulnierville wharf is only the beginning of what could be a much larger entrance into the lucrative lobster fishery.
Colin Sproul of the Bay of Fundy Inshore Fishermen’s Association said he supports more aboriginal entrants into the fishery, but not at the expense of existing fishermen in St. Mary’s Bay, where a licence goes for about $800,000.
As the sun lowered Sunday evening, allowing the wind to cool and slowing the onshore breeze, the two fleets prepared for another dangerous night of cat and mouse on the water.
