According to scallop industry official the arrest of one lobster poacher with 5,300 (illegal) lobsters is just the tip of the iceberg. There are many lobster poachers whose acts not only encourage illegal fishing but also damages the sea lives in great numbers. Reacting to this lobster fishermen in western Shelburne County are protesting the arrival this week of as many as 45 inshore scallop draggers to fish an area from Baccaro, Shelburne County, to a point off Yarmouth and out to 19 kilometres from shore.
Disck Stewart, of the Full Bay Scallop Association, a group of scallop draggers now working off Shelburne and Yarmouth counties, informed that scallopers have been fishing in the disputed area each spring, after the lobster season closes, since 2001. he told that there are thousands of illegal lobster traps down there. According to lobster fishermen the draggers damage or pick up lobsters along with scallops and they ruin the ocean floor.
Stewart opined that lobster poachers mostly damaged the sea lives. He said that the local lobstermen don’t want the scallopers around because they come from Digby and Yarmouth counties. It is illegal for unauthorized people to possess lobster, and the crustaceans are supposed to be returned to the sea, says Stewart. He also told that groundfish draggers with bigger gear also fish the Atlantic, as do offshore scallopers towing larger rakes, capable of doing more damage, but the protesting lobster fishermen are not mentioning them.
