Nova Scotia’s fisheries minister says he’s worried about Ottawa’s plans to establish marine protected areas along the province’s Eastern Shore, saying he wants to know if the proposal will include no-fish zones.
Keith Colwell says he’s particularly concerned about the area’s lobster fishery because it provides good jobs in a low-employment zone.
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There’s been no word from federal officials on whether the protected areas will include no-fish zones.
The Eastern Shore is the first area along the province’s coast being considered for marine protected areas.
Ottawa has promised to protect 10 per cent of Canada’s oceans by 2020.
Colwell says while no one is opposed to protecting coastal areas, he wants the federal government to know that it has to be done in a way that allows fishing that respects the environment.
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He says the lobster fishery on the Eastern Shore is a “prime example” because fishermen have instituted environmentally friendly practices on their own, including holding on to large female lobsters that are caught and returning them to the ocean at the end of the season.
Colwell says he plans to relay his concerns to federal Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc.