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
