Lennox Island chief says moderate-livelihood lobster fishers will replace traps seized by DFO

The chief of the P.E.I.-based Lennox Island First Nation says the area's moderate-livelihood lobster fishermen will replace the traps that federal officials seized over the weekend. 

On Sunday, Fisheries and Oceans Canada confiscated lobster traps in Malpeque Bay that the agency said were not set by authorized crews. 

The First Nation said DFO removed 100 lobster traps each from three fishermen and took them to the wharf in Alberton — a move Lennox Island Chief Darlene Bernard is calling illegal. 

She said conditions were too windy for the fishermen to go out on the water Tuesday, but vowed that they would be back out Wednesday to replace all 300 traps.

Lennox Island First Nation says it will replace hundreds of lobster traps removed by DFO officials

23 days ago

Duration 2:30

Lennox Island First Nation says 300 lobster traps set by people from the community off P.E.I.'s North Shore have been removed from Malpeque Bay by Department of Fisheries and Oceans staff. The chief calls the move illegal, but DFO says the First Nation put in more traps than it was allowed. CBC's Connor Lamont has more.

"We are going to secure more traps, and if they take 300 out, we're going to put 300 back in," Bernard told CBC News. "There's going to be 1,500 traps in the water."

The Mi'kmaq have a right to fish for a "moderate livelihood" outside of the commercial fishery that's rigorously regulated by the federal government, a right that was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada's Marshall decision in 1999.

There's going to be 1,500 traps in the water.— Lennox Island First Nation Chief Darlene Bernard

The First Nation said the traps seized Sunday belong to its self-governed fishery that began in 2022. 

Bernard said the treaty-protected fishery follows the same rules as the commercial season, including when and where harvesters can set traps.

Last year, Lennox Island fishermen set 1,500 lobster traps, up from 1,000 the year before.

DFO has said Lennox Island community members are approved for only 1,000 traps, and that officers may take "enforcement action" against those fishing without a licence or approval.

The federal agency said it can also step in to remove traps if lobster stocks are low to prevent overfishing.

'We're not going to fight on the water'

Bernard said she hasn't seen any evidence from DFO that stocks are low, and added that the First Nation will take legal action to ensure its 1,500 traps can be set. 

"The treaty-protected fishery is a symbolic little fishery that has a huge impact on families in my community and I am not going to give that up without a fight, and we're not going to fight on the water," she said. 

"We're going to fish in peace and friendship, as our treaties say. We will fight this in court."

Any number of additional traps, regardless of ownership, have significant negative impacts on the resource.— P.E.I. Fishermen's Association

In a statement, the P.E.I. Fishermen's Association said it supports DFO's efforts to stop unauthorized fishing in order to protect lobster stocks.

"The association has been a long-time supporter of the 'one licence in, one licence out' concept. This simple equation means that no additional traps or effort are allowed in the lobster fishery so that critical sustainability balances are maintained," the statement reads.

"Any number of additional traps, regardless of ownership, have significant negative impacts on the resource." 

In addition to pledging to put all the traps back in the water Wednesday, Bernard is also demanding that DFO officials return all of the ones it confiscated over the weekend.  

Fisheries and Oceans Canada has not confirmed how many traps it pulled from the water on Sunday.