‘Moderate Livelihood’ Fishermen Must Operate During Commercial Season
The Government of Canada is refusing to license any Indigenous ‘moderate livelihood’ fishery in Atlantic Canada unless it operates within the confines of the commercial season, according to a statement from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) at the beginning of March.
Their statement is a major development in an ongoing dispute over treaty-rights based fishing that prompted conflict last fall when the Sipekne’katik tribe started a self-regulated ‘moderate livelihood’ lobster fishery in St. Mary’s Bay, southwest Nova Scotia. The fishery took place outside of commercial season. Commercial fishing season in Nova Scotia varies to maintain a steady market supply and protect vulnerable stocks.
Other fishermen from the region’s commercial fishing industry argued it was unfair and would have adverse effects on sustainability. Unfortunately, the dispute led as far as violence last fall when several bands launched self-regulated lobster fisheries outside of the commercial season. Two storage facilities holding Mi’kmaw catches were vandalized, including one destroyed by fire. When tension began to settle, the DFO retrieved hundreds of Mi’kmaw traps from the water, majorly bearing ‘moderate livelihood’ tags.
In 1999, the court officially affirmed the Mi’kmaw treaty right to fish in pursuit of a ‘moderate livelihood’, subject to federal government regulations for conservation. Although the federal government invested $500 million integrating Indigenous bands into the commercial fishery through license buy-backs and training, they never defined ‘moderate livelihood’.
Recently, fishery minister Bernadette Jordan has stated that the DFO will work with Mi’kmaw communities to develop moderate livelihood fishing plans that will be licensed by DFO. Bands that accept the DFO’s offer will be granted a moderate livelihood license that will allow them to sell catch in 2021. According to Jordan, the government is within its rights to regulate the valuable fishery.
However, chiefs amongst the community have responded by calling the government’s conditions ‘unacceptable’ and condemned them as part of a ‘colonial approach’ to the treaty-based fishery. The right to a livelihood fishery is not and should not be, driven by industry or the federal government, according to the assembly’s fisheries lead Chief Gerald Toney.
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“The federal government ‘will balance additional First Nations access through already available licenses and a willing buyer-willing seller approach, protecting our stocks and preserving the industry for generations to come,’ Jordan's statement said.
‘DFO continues to dictate and impose their rules on a fishery that is outside of their scope and mandate,’ said Chief Gerald Toney, the assembly's fisheries lead, in a statement. ‘It is something that needs to come from the Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia. Imposing restrictions independently, without input of the Mi'kmaq, on our implementation of Rights is an approach that must stop.’
Mi'kmaw leaders and some academics have insisted the fishery in St. Mary’s Bay poses no risk to stocks because it is too small. It's a claim the commercial industry rejects.”
Source: 'Moderate Livelihood' Fishermen Must Operate During Commercial Season, DFO Says - CBC News Canada
Photo Source: WIX - www.wix.com
Written by AQUAMERGE
March 3, 2021