Elver prosecutions trickle into court after 'hell' year on N.S. and N.B. rivers

About three dozen people have been charged with offences related to this year's chaotic illegal fishery for juvenile eels in the Maritimes, a number that falls well short of the overall tally of arrests this spring but which the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans says could grow.

The enforcement of the lucrative fishery for the tiny eels, also known as elvers, has been heavily scrutinized in recent years, with many in the industry outspoken about what they view as a failure to crack down on rampant poaching.

The department said Friday that 37 people have been charged with elver-related fisheries offences committed in 2024, providing for the first time a concrete number of prosecutions that have emerged from a year when fisheries officers struggled badly to keep pace.

Illegal fishing has risen as prices skyrocketed due to demand from Asian aquaculture facilities where the eels are shipped and grown for food. The federal fisheries minister in March cancelled this year's fishery outright, citing concerns about conservation and violence.

Critics have said the shutdown deprived legal operators and harvesters of a livelihood and did little to deter unlicensed fishing, with hundreds of people continuing to flock to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick rivers at night, netting the young eels and then selling them on the black market.

DFO has touted its enforcement numbers, including 169 arrests and 29 vehicles seized, but officials couldn't say at a public meeting earlier this month how many charges the Public Prosecution Service of Canada had formally approved.

One enforcement officer, Trevor Lushington, acknowledged the year had been anything but a smooth ride, and said DFO tried to deter what illegal fishing it could with "limited staff," but "there's a lot more going on."

"This fishery comes in a short period and it comes at us fast, too. We are trying to get the most out of each officer's presence, provide a deterrent," he told the meeting.

"If we get 169 convictions that mean something, that means 2025 gets better. 2024 was hell."

Prosecutions have been trickling into court. Records show, for instance, charges laid against five people from Maine who allegedly had 3½ kilograms of elvers in their possession when they were arrested by fisheries officers in April near Meteghan River, N.S. They are due to appear in court by phone next month.

'No peace on the river'

Those arrests happened near land owned by Roland Hamilton, an elver licence holder since 1994 who helped pioneer the industry, turning it from a low-income venture into an enormously profitable business.

He said in an interview Monday that he watched in frustration this spring as up to 20 vehicles a night parked on his property as people fished for elvers in the river.

He said he has little faith the measures being brought in by DFO for the next season, including better regulating the sale of elvers, will do much if the department is unwilling to do enforcement along the rivers. 

"There's going to be no peace on the river," he said. "There just isn't."

In recent years, some Mi'kmaq and Wolastoqiyik have claimed a treaty right to fish for elvers. Some have been charged with fisheries offences, although DFO has said it doesn't know the number as it doesn't formally track the ethnicity of those who are prosecuted.

In June, DFO signalled it was considering a major shakeup of the fishery by plucking half the quota from the eight commercial licence holders and redistributing it to First Nations. This fall, it said another 28 per cent would be redistributed to individual fishermen.

Charges related to the elver fishery must typically be approved by the Public Prosecution Service of Canada. The measure has often led to delays of many months between the time of an arrest and laying of a charge.

"Fishery officers are working with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada to complete their ongoing investigations related to enforcement actions taken in 2024 related to unauthorized elver harvesting, which may result in additional charges," the department said in a statement.