Fishing Conflicts

Guest: Douglas Sanderson, Professor of Aborigional Law, University of Toronto There’s a lobster war going on in Nova Scotia. Tensions between commercial and Indigenous fishers have risen to the point of sabotage. Commercial fishers recently ransacked two lobster pounds, barricading some indigenous fishers inside and dumping their lobster into the ocean. One of the pounds was burned down shortly after–it’s being investigated as arson. Commercial fishers argue that indigenous people are threatening their livelihoods with fishing practices outside of federal regulation, while the indigenous fishers say they’re only operating within their centuries-old rights.