Achi news desk-
HALIFAX –
Tiny, translucent eels, called juvenile eels, are back in the news after two Mi’kmaq men from Nova Scotia reported being detained by federal fisheries officials and then released far from at home at 1 am — without shoes or phones — after they were. caught fishing near Shelburne, NS
The federal government closed the lucrative eel fishery on March 11 after violence and intimidation plagued last year’s fishing season in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. But many Mi’kmaq people claim they have a treaty right to fish for the small eels.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called the allegations of mistreatment of the fishermen “very troubling,” has promised a full investigation by his government.
In an emailed statement Thursday, Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier said she plans to meet with Mi’kmaq leaders as soon as possible to discuss the arrests of the two fishermen. The minister was not available for an interview.
Why are young eels so valuable?
The tiny little eels weigh a few grams and are less than 10 centimeters long. Young eels, sometimes called glass eels, are usually flown to Asia where they are raised to maturity and sold for food. Young eels are essential to the global supply of Japanese food, where the mature eels are used in unagi dishes in sushi restaurants.
The tiny eels are worth about $5,000 a kilogram – more than lobster, scallops or salmon – making them the most valuable fish by weight in Canada.
How and where are they fished?
Young eels are fished at night from coastal rivers in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Maine. They are harvested in the spring as they return to the rivers from their ocean spawning grounds. They can be harvested using as little equipment as possible, often with a bucket and a fine funnel-shaped net known as a fyke net or dip net.
“Basically, you just need a bucket and a net, and you’re in business,” Stanley King, a commercial license holder from Nova Scotia, said of his concerns about poaching young eels in a December 2023 interview.
Some commercial fishermen claim that black market buyers encourage poaching.
What has the federal government done to manage the fishery?
As of 2023, Ottawa had issued a total of nine licenses for juvenile eel fishing operations in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, with an overall quota of 9,960 kilograms per season. That quota has been in place since 2005.
For the past two seasons, Ottawa has allocated 14 per cent of the commercial juvenile eel quota to native fishermen. New Brunswick’s Wolastoqey Nation, which represents six bands, holds one commercial license, while another is held by several Mi’kmaq First Nations in Nova Scotia.
Ottawa closed the season in 2023 after reports of violence related to illegal fishing, and this year did not allow the season to open. The fishery was closed in 2020 due to similar concerns.
Brian Giroux, a commercial fisherman with the Shelburne Elver Group, said the federal Department of Fisheries failed to adequately protect against poaching during the previous closure. As a result, Giroux said Thursday that 2023 was the busiest year for illegal fishing of young eels that he has seen in his 25-year career.
What are First Nations claims to treaty rights?
Ottawa has said it allocated part of the young eel quota to indigenous groups in recognition of their right to make a modest living from hunting, gathering and fishing – a right upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 1999 Marshall Decision.
On March 15, the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs expressed their frustration that the federal fisheries minister closed the 2024 young eel season despite the assembly’s proposal for a system that it said would strengthen the conservation and sustainability of the young eel stocks and “blueprint . for livelihood access.”
The assembly says Ottawa has a duty to uphold treaty rights and that closing this year’s season will result in the loss of more than $18 million for authorized young Mi’kmaq eel fishermen.
“The Assembly remains firm that (the Department of Fisheries) must respect its reconciliation obligations by working honestly and transparently alongside the Mi’kmaq to ensure that our resources are managed and maintain them appropriately and respect Mi’kmaq rights,” the statement said. .
Concerns of commercial fishermen
Stanley King, a licensee with Atlantic Elver Fishery, said the tension within the industry is the result of years of federal mismanagement, which has allowed poaching to flourish.
“Before this season, I would say they did an abysmal job enforcing and prosecuting,” King said in an interview Thursday.
King said he is seeing signs that early-season poaching enforcement is increasing among federal fisheries officials, adding that he hopes it will continue in order to maintain the stock of the species in the future.
In a statement on Facebook on March 25, the Department of Fisheries said that since March 6 it has arrested 39 individuals who are under investigation for the unauthorized harvest of young eels across southwestern Nova Scotia.
King says the Mi’kmaq treaty right to make a modest living does not apply to off-season fishing when the sustainability of the species is at risk.
“The duty to protect the conservation of any species overrides any perceived right that First Nations individuals have. So they can say they are fishing under a reasonable subsistence right, but it doesn’t even fly under the Marshall test,” he said. He said.
This report was first published by The Canadian Press on April 4, 2024.
— With files from The Associated Press.
