Canada's latest efforts to combat baby eel poaching considered inadequate by licence holders

Efforts by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to combat unauthorized harvesting of baby eels in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are being dismissed as inadequate by licence holders, as poaching continues weeks after the legal fishery was shut down.

The tiny, translucent eels, also known as elvers, are shipped live to Asia where they are grown for food, and sell for up to $5,000 a kilogram when caught legally — although it fetches far less on the illegal market.

DFO closed the legal elver fishery on April 15, after hundreds of unauthorized harvesters descended on rivers to cash in on the species, causing conflict that escalated to violence and threats, and posed a safety risk for harvesters, the public and officers.

The department said since the shutdown started, officers have made 18 arrests and seized about 6.53 kilograms of the eels. A vehicle, dozens of nets and a variety of other fishing and storage gear has also been seized.

But licence holders are saying this isn't enough.

Stanley King, a commercial licence holder with Atlantic Elver Fishery, said the amount of elver seized in nearly three weeks "is more representative of what could be seized on any given night from any single river."

"The reported seizures are shockingly low given the rampant poaching across the region, further demonstrating that no meaningful enforcement occurred," he said.

Atlantic Elver Fishery is one of nine commercial licence holders that was forced to stop harvesting when DFO ordered the shutdown last month.

The order also affected six Wolastoqey bands and four Mi'kmaw bands that were exercising their treaty right to a moderate living with fishing plans approved by DFO.

Brian Giroux, another commercial licence holder with the Shelburne Elver Group, agrees with King that seizure efforts are lacking.

"You could catch that in one net, in one night," Giroux said. 

But, he said, at least the order provides an unambiguous legal outline that will translate into charges against the people arrested.

That's what happened to those arrested after a ministerial order closed the elver fishery in 2020, he said, when an influx of Mi'kmaq overwhelmed the department's ability to manage the fishery.

"The [fisheries management order] means everybody gets charged. There's no question of racism," he said.

'Deter and disrupt' poaching

In a statement, the office of DFO Minister Joyce Murray said efforts to "deter and disrupt" poaching are continuing but declined to provide details.

"To maintain operational integrity, we do not disclose the number of active officers nor what specific enforcement activities they are undertaking," the statement said.

King said since officers posted notices closing the fishery, legal fishers haven't been back on the rivers, but they are keeping an eye on them.

"We've seen poaching every single night on all of the rivers we monitor and it's really been disheartening because we've seen no enforcement effort at all," said King.

He said trail cameras installed on those rivers have documented nightly instances of poaching, and he has sent the images to the fisheries minister.

King said this week, a camera picked up the first sighting of a fishery officer on a river used by poachers.

"Unfortunately, the image we caught yesterday was at 2:30 in the afternoon, and this fishery happens at night, so still it's not meaningful enforcement," he said.

Criticism in New Brunswick

Southern New Brunswick MLA Andrea Anderson-Mason is also critical of DFO's enforcement.

She tweeted a photo of a supposedly closed elver river in her riding in St. George.

"In most years, there may be two to six individuals who are harvesting the eels and last night there would have been upwards of 50 individuals," Anderson-Mason said.

"I think that we need an answer from the federal government because it is from my perspective they have single handedly allowed this to get completely out of control."

Meanwhile, the Wolastoqiyik First Nation in New Brunswick, which has an approved moderate livelihood fishery, wants DFO to reopen the elver fishery so it can catch its quota.