DFO maintains presence near native lobster traps

The late-afternoon raid occurred within a few hundred metres of a government wharf that native warriors have occupied off and on since a dispute over native fishing resumed last month.

It wasn't immediately clear if the few enforcement vessels in the operation pulled or destroyed any traps.

There were also no reports of a repeat of collisions that marred earlier confrontations.

Robert Allain, regional director for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, estimated about 250 native traps remained in the bay - the vast majority of them in shallow waters just in front of the reserve. Nearly 1,400 have been seized or destroyed since last Friday.

"The traps inshore are a bit more difficult [to seize] because the risk factors are a little higher," he said earlier in the day.

"But the officers will plan for that accordingly.

"The RCMP will assist us if we require it and we'll make every effort to try to remove those traps."

It was quiet on the bay for most of the day as a few stalwart Mi'kmaqs collected lobsters and baited traps while a Coast Guard helicopter passed overhead and government vessels kept watch from afar.

Mr. Allain said enforcement operations would continue despite undertakings by several natives to remove their traps by Sunday, a week ahead of the band's self-declared schedule.

"The fishery was closed as of last Friday morning and the intention is still to remove as many traps as possible," Mr. Allain said.

"We'd like to terminate this as quickly as possible, but we're getting mixed signals from Burnt Church as to when they'll terminate the fishery," he said.

Some traps have already come ashore and other native fishermen have declared they will pull their traps Oct. 1, when bands around the Maritimes celebrate Treaty Day - traditionally the day that government and chiefs were to meet each year to discuss treaty issues and renew commitments.

While that has rarely been the case since the 18th-century treaties were signed, natives have used the day to gather, talk, pray and celebrate.

The latest seizures came as native leaders in Ontario pledged support for those in Burnt Church. A delegation of 250 provincial leaders and elders planned to travel to the reserve for Treaty Day.

And in Nova Scotia, Chief Lawrence Paul of the Millbrook reserve predicted more confrontations next summer unless Ottawa includes native bands in its fisheries policy.

"Burnt Church symbolizes to the Indian people our determination as a people to have our treaty rights honoured by Canada," said Ovide Mercredi, senior fisheries adviser to the Assembly of First Nations who has been dispatched to help and advise local leaders.

"Burnt Church symbolizes to the Indian people how important it is to our people to resist government policies and laws that violate our treaty rights.

"And Burnt Church represents to the Indian people across the country what a community can do if they set aside their differences for the common good of their future generations."

But the dispute represents more than that, said Mr. Mercredi.

"I think it also represents that non-violence represents a strong and powerful force and as long as they maintain that strategy of having no conflict on the water, which is the policy of the community that the warriors are following, then they will win this battle." *

The band's hereditary chief, Lloyd Augustine, said there is no symbolism in the removal of traps on Treaty Day. It's simply a matter of practicality, he said - the lobsters are migrating into deeper water.

"A lot of our people have stated that this [removing traps on Sunday] is something that they're willing to do," said Augustine. "A few more will just ride it out for just a few more days, until [Oct. 7] when it finally ends.

"Right now, we don't have the equipment to follow the lobsters out."

Elected Chief Wilbur Dedam said he was leaving his traps in the water.

"The majority of people said to keep them in there till Oct. 7, so that's what I'm going to do."

On Tuesday, fisheries officers scooped up 31 traps in darting raids, destroying 18 wooden ones at sea and seizing 13 steel ones. They avoided confrontation with six native warrior boats.

Native warriors have come from around the region to patrol the area and control access to the government wharf near the reserve.

Their leader, James Ward, called Tuesday's operation ineffectual - more of a statement to keep non-white fishermen at bay than a conservation or enforcement measure.

Native fishermen in St. Mary's Bay, on Nova Scotia's southwestern shore, began pulling up some of their traps Wednesday morning.

The fishermen, who have lost more than 1,500 traps and two boats to seizure, said they can't afford to replace the traps they've already lost to DFO and want to keep the few traps they have left.

Twenty-nine Maritime bands reached one-year interim agreements with Ottawa after the Supreme Court of Canada clarified its ruling in the case of Mi'kmaq fisherman Donald Marshall.

The decision reaffirmed natives' treaty right to fish where and when they wish, saying they can earn "moderate livelihoods" from their catches. The clarification last November said the treaty right is subject to regulation by the federal government.

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{au: Stephen Thorne dt: 09/29/00 sc: cpress}