Donald Marshall appeals for calm in fishing dispute

The man who won a landmark ruling for native fishing rights is begging for calm. Donald Marshall Jr. says he's losing sleep over all the violent talk that's erupted in light of his win in the Supreme Court of Canada.

Ten days ago, the court upheld a centuries-old treaty between the Mi'kmaq people and the British Crown and said natives in Atlantic Canada have a treaty right to fish commercially.

Almost immediately, natives in the Maritimes laid thousands of lobster traps, even though it's out-of-season. The Atlantic lobster season is closed until the end of November, as a conservation measure to give lobsters time to breed.

Non-native fishermen are furious. They're threatening to pull up the traps if the government doesn't set some new rules.

Marshall is appealing for calm and asking the Mi'kmaq people to stop the catch until the dispute with non-aboriginal fishermen has been resolved.

"I'm asking our chiefs and the native leaders to talk to their fishermen and pull out their nets and negotiate," Marshall said in an interview with CBC Radio.

Meanwhile, the federal fisheries minister says "he's looking into" the tense dispute. Beyond that, Herb Dhaliwal isn't saying much.

Dhaliwal spoke to reporters on Parliament Hill Tuesday to say that both the Department of Fisheries and the Justice Department are reviewing the decision and will clarify the rules in a couple of days.

"I hope in the next two days I can clarify the judgement because that's our top priority," said Dhaliwal.

Two days may be too late for some fishermen in New Brunswick. They have given aboriginal fishermen in that province only 48 hours from Monday to remove their lobster traps. After that, the group has threatened to cut lines to the traps.

A group of about 700 fishermen in southwestern Nova Scotia has also issued an ultimatum, giving the federal government a week to work out rules under the Supreme Court decision. They may then go ahead and set their own lobster traps, illegally.

Dhaliwal said little Tuesday on the question of threatened violence but he said he understands the frustration and that his department is working "around the clock" to deal with the situation.

The minister says he has been getting cooperation from both aboriginal leaders and non-aboriginal leaders awaiting talks on the decision.