Protesters face Dhaliwal

Protesters confronted federal Fisheries Minister Herb Dhaliwal in Cheticamp, N.S. Monday. Dhaliwal has been meeting with members of the fishing industry in the Atlantic region.

The protesters are unhappy with oil and gas exploration permits that have been granted to Corridor Resources in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Elizabeth May, with the Sierra Club of Canada, says some of the permits are for shoreline areas. She says seismic testing can kill or disturb fish and whales.

"The success of the fishery, the survival of the fishery is being threatened by the decision to proceed with offshore gas," Sierra Club representative Elizabeth May said. "The minister of fisheries is someone we're looking to for help."

Mary Gorman with the Save Our Seas Shores Coalition agrees.

"Any accident that might occur is going to land somewhere whether it be the western coast of Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island or mainland Nova Scotia," Gorman said. "It is going to land and it's not like Sable which is a hundred miles offshore."

The two groups says the future of Cape Breton Island's entire fishery is in jeopardy if Dhaliwal doesn't intervene.

Dhaliwal has agreed to meet with members of the Save our Seas Shores Coalition to hear their concerns.