Some P.E.I. lobster fishers want 'moderate livelihood' defined, after DFO seizes more traps

Lennox Island First Nation says more lobster traps belonging to its moderate-livelihood fishery were removed from the waters along P.E.I.'s North Shore over the weekend. 

Chief Darlene Bernard said one fisherman had 58 traps seized by federal Fisheries and Oceans Canada enforcement officers on Sunday. The move comes after DFO removed what it said were 100 unauthorized traps from Malpeque Bay back in late May. 

Bernard is once again calling the removal illegal, though some non-Indigenous fishers in the area told CBC News they were pleased that DFO is taking action. 

Timothy Wall, a third-generation fisherman in the area, said there's too much pressure on Malpeque Bay's lobster stocks. 

"It's nice to see DFO… taking a stance in the name of conservation," Wall told CBC News. "There's been a lot of extra pressure on the resource, and you can only split the pie so many ways sometimes before your slices start to get smaller and smaller and smaller." 

First Nation's fishery protected by treaty

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.

Bernard said the traps seized Sunday belong to Lennox Island's self-governed, treaty-protected fishery that began in 2022.

The First Nation set 1,500 moderate-livelihood lobster traps this year — 100 traps each for 15 fishermen from the community — but DFO has said it approved only up to 1,000.

Calling DFO's latest seizure "extremely disappointing" and "despicable," Bernard said 58 traps have been placed back in the water. 

"If there's an issue with these traps, then give me the reason other than 'we didn't authorize them,'" she told CBC News on Tuesday. "Well, guess what? [DFO doesn't] have the ability or the authority to authorize anything when it comes to the treaty-protected fishery. It's a self-regulated fishery that is protected by the Constitution." 

As well as that fishery, the Lennox Island First Nation also operates a communal commercial fishery. Down the road, the community to hopes to expand that fishery by using a new program, the Community Based Access Acquisition Fund, to buy existing commercial licences from people from outside the First Nation who are getting out of the business. 

If that approach works, Bernard said Lennox Island will not have to expand its moderate-livelihood fishery.  

Defining 'moderate livelihood'? 

Fishers like Wall say part of the problem is that DFO hasn't defined what a "moderate livelihood" means. He said non-Indigenous fishers should have some kind of say in the future of the treaty-protected fishery, given that their own livelihood is at stake. 

"It's impossible to have real, true reconciliation 'til we can all move forward, and this is one of the biggest things that's stopping everybody from moving forward," Wall said. 

"Everybody would be better off and happier if we could just figure out what moderate livelihood means. It is time to define it." 

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

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.

DFO said it has no plans to do that in the near future. 

Connor Robinson, the department's acting director-general of Indigenous affairs, said DFO is "committed to reconciliation and working with partners to implement their rights in the fishery in a sustainable way that's mindful of conservation and pressure on fish stocks" 

About defining the moderate-livelihood fishery, he added: "While I understand the desire from many to define it and put parameters around it, what the court basically said is what's required to implement moderate livelihood will vary over time as fish stocks and communities change and grow and evolve." 

We are going to continue to fish 1,500 traps in this community.— Chief Darlene Bernard, Lennox Island First Nation

In the meantime, Lennox Island is considering legal action over the traps seized Sunday. 

Bernard said the 15 moderate-livelihood fishers from her community are only taking what they need — and it's far less than what the commercial fishery is hauling in. 

"We are going to continue to protect that right, and we are going to continue to fish 1,500 traps in this community," she said. 

"We've done our due diligence on it, we've done our engagements with the community, we've looked to see if there was any issues with regards to the stocks…. Right now, we are less than one per cent of the total allowable catch."