A new lobster war between the Canadian government and native Indian fishermen began to take shape as armed fisheries officers wearing helmets and protective vests boarded and seized three native fishing vessels. Ironically, one of the boats seized on Saturday by federal agents in this town on Nova Scotia's southwest coast, was given to its operators by the department of fisheries and oceans, the employers of the agents who arrested it. With Saturday’s arrests, the federal government has so far this summer arrested seven native fishing vessels in a growing dispute over the natives' claims that they have traditional rights to fish, rights honoured in treaties signed with the British crown prior to Canadian independence.

Nine native fishers were charged on Saturday for fishing with unlicensed lobster traps and realized pending trial. Nine other native fishers, men and women, were arrested July 26 and charged with illegal fishing.

Report : Zeenext Bureau