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.

In an interview on Wednesday, Sylliboy said he wants to move on from the arrest and become part of a legal, co-managed fishery this spring.

"Now that it's under a professional system, it's going to be quite exciting ... I will feel more welcomed. I would feel I have a job to do, and I won't feel hunted," he said.

The federal fisheries minister closed the elver fishery in March, citing confrontations and incidents of violence that had created an "immediate threat" to public safety. In 2023, the fishery was closed in April after reports of violence related to unauthorized fishing as well as accusations of assaults and even shots fired.

Michael Basque is negotiating access to the elver fishery for four Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq First Nations. In an interview Tuesday, he said Indigenous fishers will be able to make a moderate livelihood from harvesting baby eels with the new quotas alloted to them.

There are "a number of young people on welfare" in the First Nation communities he represents, Basque said, adding that the elver fishery will provide an opportunity to gain employment and make positive changes in their lives.

Basque estimated there are about 300 fishers in Unama'ki -- the Mi'kmaq word for Cape Breton -- "who are interested" in pursuing the fishery, which mostly occurs in tidal rivers along the southeastern coast of the Nova Scotia mainland.

Meanwhile, Mi'kmaq groups are still in talks with the federal department about what their share of the new quota will be, he said, and how it will be co-managed when the baby elver harvest begins in the early spring.

Fabian Francis, Eskasoni First Nation's moderate livelihood co-ordinator, said the goal for his Cape Breton community is to create a safe environment for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous fishers next season, in contrast to earlier years' tensions.

When Sylliboy and another Mi'kmaq fisher, Kevin Hartling, were arrested March 26 they said officers confiscated their phones and hipwaders before leaving the two fishers at a gas station about a 45-minute drive from where they had been fishing. As a consequence, the supervising officer involved in the case recently received a 10-day suspension without pay, resulting in many enforcement officers taking a day off the job in protest.

Francis said his hope is that cases like Sylliboy's will become a thing of the past. "We're fishing by the rules, and the (top) rules are conservation and safety," he said.

Richard Denny Jr., an elver fisher from Eskasoni, said in an interview Wednesday that he has had respectful encounters with federal fisheries officers, but he feels relieved at the prospect of being able to fish with Ottawa's approval. "It's very important the native community works with DFO and DFO works with us," he said about the federal department.

However, a lawyer who represents one of the commercial licence holders said in an interview Wednesday the new system is unlikely to lead to a safe and sustainable industry because non-Indigenous players have been treated unfairly.

Michel Samson said the allocation to the Indigenous fishers is coupled with a pilot project that would offer licences to 120 fishers currently employed by commercial licence holders, representing another 27 per cent of the overall quota. A further 1.5 per cent would be allocated to licences offered to 30 fishers who currently catch adult eels.

Samson, who represents Wine Harbour Fisheries Ltd., a family-run business on Nova Scotia's eastern shore, said his clients would go from a pre-2022 quota of 1,200 kilograms to 137 kilograms under the proposed changes.

He said the government's plan runs contrary to past systems for compensating non-Indigenous fishers during quota reallocations, including during the changes that resulted from the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada Marshall decision, which confirmed the Mi'kmaq right to fish to earn a "moderate livelihood."

"We expect chaos because of the fact that you are now going to be introducing hundreds, if not thousands, of new harvesters in a fishery where no training has been provided and no new holding facilities (for the baby eels) have been built," Samson said.

"As a result of that, you're sending out individuals to try to fish a live product that's very delicate and to keep it alive without being properly shown how to do so or given the infrastructure required to be able to do so."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 18, 2024.