New Aboriginal Fishery Guardian graduates

Atlantic Canada has 58 new Aboriginal Fishery Guardians.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada issued the designations at a graduation ceremony at the Canadian Coast Guard College in Sydney, Nova Scotia on Wednesday night.

The students came from 25 First Nations communities from around Atlantic Canada.

Malcom Ward, from Red Bank, New Brunswick, has already been working with fishery guardians in his community.

The training and the designation will give him more power to protect the river he loves.

"I'm a fly fisherman. I love fly-fishing on the river.  And what used to bother me before was I used to have poachers literally sweep right by me and I wasn't able to do nothing."

The guardians' job is to help fisheries officers enforce Aboriginal fishing agreements.

Course coordinator Phillip Prosper said the new graduates have studied the Fisheries Act, trained in public speaking, note-taking, collecting evidence, and some defense tactics, in case they run into trouble while out on patrol.

Prosper said if the guardians encounter a violation, they can seize nets or other equipment.

And they can take statements to pass on to fisheries officers.

"They're the front line. They would do all of the paperwork and whatnot...everything short of actually laying the charge," said Prosper.

The Aboriginal Fishery Guardian program is a component of the 1992 Atlantic Fisheries Strategy.

Prosper said this is the first time the guardian designations have been issued in several years.