N.S. lobster fisherman's push to sell licence moves a step forward

After years of fighting a long-standing policy that denies certain lobster licence holders the ability to sell or hand down their licence, a Nova Scotia man is now closer than ever to reaching a resolution.

Donald Publicover, 71, of Brookside, N.S., is one of the 80 fishermen in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick with a Class B lobster licence.

He's been fighting to change a 45-year-old Fisheries and Oceans Canada policy that states Class B licences expire at the time of the holder's death and they may not be sold.

"I have all the faith in my lawyer… and I feel good about it," Publicover said in an interview Friday.

Lauren Sankey, a DFO spokesperson, told CBC News that Fisheries and Oceans Canada will not be appealing a recent Federal Court decision about Class B licences. The decision did not comment on the policy itself, but on the need for the federal fisheries minister to revisit Publicover's file.

"As such, the minister will review Mr. Publicover's request, as ordered by the court," Sankey said.

Publicover has leased out his licence on a medical exemption since 2017, and has asked for exemptions numerous times in the past. But Bernadette Jordan, the former fisheries minister, was the latest to dismiss his request in August 2020, citing conservation issues.

Last December, Federal Court Justice Elizabeth Heneghan released a judgment setting aside Jordan's decision, returning it to the government for redetermination.

Publicover and his wife support their two adult children, who have cerebral palsy, and he said he wants to be able to sell his licence to provide financial security for his family. "My family will have something to hang on to and all that," he said.

Michel Samson of Cox & Palmer, the law firm working with the licence holders in their effort, said he and the fishermen are waiting for the next step.

"The [Federal] Court basically looked at the reasoning behind why [the] minister of fisheries refused Mr. Publicover's request and the court said, 'That's not reasonable, so you need to take this back, you need to look at it again, re-examine this and give another response.' What that other response will be is what we're waiting to see," said Samson.

He said the goal is not only to win the right for Publicover to sell, but to change the entire policy.

"Our goal is to negotiate a resolution here which reflects the fact that this … policy simply can't be justified anymore in 2022."

Publicover said he feels good right now about how his case is going, but he hopes it will lead to more changes within Fisheries and Oceans Canada for all fishermen.

"Let's go forward and correct some things and sort it all out and work together on it and make things better for people … there's a lot of things in the Fisheries Act that could be gone over like licences and quotas."

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