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N.S. pulp mill takes legal action against fishermen’s blockade of survey work

Fishing boats pass the Northern Pulp mill as concerned residents, fishermen and Indigenous groups protest the mill's plan to dump millions of litres of effluent daily into the Northumberland Strait in Pictou, N.S., on Friday, July 6, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

The Northern Pulp mill says it is taking legal action after fishermen blocked survey boats hired to examine a route for a contentious undersea effluent pipeline.

Kathy Cloutier, a spokeswoman for Northern Pulp’s parent company Paper Excellence Canada, says the mill has initiated action seeking an interim injunction to prevent blockades or obstructions of the survey work in the Northumberland Strait.

READ MORE: ‘Stop it at all costs’: The blockade of Northern Pulp Mill continues

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A group of fishermen has vowed to block any survey boats from entering the Strait.

Cloutier says in an email that it was hoped the surveying would be allowed without incident, but “actions indicated that the environmental assessment survey work would not proceed without the company seeking a court injunction.”

READ MORE: N.S. fishermen to block Northern Pulp’s survey vessel from entering Northumberland Strait

The plan to dump treated effluent from its Abercrombie, N.S., mill into the Strait has raised the ire of local fishermen, the P.E.I. government and even Hollywood actor Ellen Page, who is from Halifax.

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The wider Gulf of St. Lawrence fisheries region is home to lobster and crab fisheries that brought in over $1.2 billion worth of catch in 2016.

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