As elver fishery season set to launch, N.S. First Nation rejects federal rules [Video]

The fishing season for baby eels is set to begin in the Maritimes, but at least one First Nation says it won’t abide by federal rules that limit the lucrative catch.

In a March 5 letter, Chief Bob Gloade of Millbrook First Nation, near Truro, N.S., told the federal Fisheries Department his community won’t use Ottawa’s recently developed smartphone app to log fishers’ harvests from Nova Scotia rivers.

As well, Gloade said, his nation doesn’t recognize Ottawa’s jurisdiction to oversee the Indigenous fishery.

“We the Mi’kmaq of Millbrook have our own management plan that we have authorized under the treaties … We are not regulated by your colonial commercial licensing schemes, nor do we accept your proposed management plan,” the chief wrote.

Canadian baby eels — also known as elvers — are fished in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Maine and shipped live to Asia, where they are grown to …