Mi’kmaq elver fishers hope new quotas create safety [Video]

HALIFAX –

Indigenous elver fishers who once were at odds with federal fisheries officers say they’re hopeful that a new plan to provide them quotas this season will create more peace on the water.

Earlier this month, a letter released by the federal Fisheries Department proposed a new quota system for the lucrative baby eel fishery that shifts 50 per cent of the total allowable catch of about 9,960 kilograms to First Nations fishers from commercial licence holders.

Commercial elver fishers in the Maritimes have condemned the new system, saying it slashes their quotas without compensation, leaving little motivation for non-Indigenous companies to share their methods and facilities with the Indigenous entrants.

However, Blaise Sylliboy, a 26-year-old Mi’kmaq fisher, says he is optimistic about receiving a legal quota, after he was arrested last year by three enforcement officers and dropped at a gas station — where he was left stranded without his boots.

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