METEGHAN, N.S. — Standing by a bullet hole in his dining room wall, lobster buyer Geoffrey Jobert says such attacks have become an all-too-familiar reality in Nova Scotia's largest fishery.
But last year, threats started after he agreed to buy the catch of a licensed, commercial harvester who was no longer willing to provide his catch to facilities allegedly purchasing illegally caught lobster. And Jobert soon learned he wasn't the only person in the communities along the Acadian shore who experienced late-night attacks.
Truck driver Wayne Saulnier of Meteghan said in a telephone interview Thursday it's possible to be"caught in the middle" of the conflict, even when you're uninvolved. In a recent lawsuit against several processors, the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance — an advocacy group for commercial fishers — has said the conflict's roots lie in Ottawa's lack of enforcement efforts at the Saulnierville wharf, where a Mi'kmaq lobster fishery was launched in 2020 outside of the regulated federal season.