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RCMP investigating another lobster pound burned to the ground in southwestern N.S.

Debris from a burnt out fish plant is scattered along the shore in Middle West Pubnico, N.S. on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS /Andrew Vaughan

Police are investigating after a lobster pound in southwestern Nova Scotia burned to the ground late last night.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Chris Marshall said Friday there were no injuries reported and no one was in the plant on Riverside Road in New Edinburgh, N.S., when it caught fire.

The lobster pound was the scene of protests on Oct. 15, 2020, involving people upset at the launch of an Indigenous self-regulated lobster fishery that had opened outside the federally regulated fishing season.

Marshall says it’s too early to say whether the fire is suspicious.

During the protests last year, about 200 commercial fishers and community supporters damaged the New Edinburgh facility, where Mi’kmaq fishers had stored their catches.

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Chief Mike Sack of the Sipekne’katik First Nation says in a news release that his band’s fishery isn’t associated with the New Edinburgh plant and says he was relieved to hear nobody was harmed.

A lobster pound in Middle West Pubnico, N.S., was destroyed in an overnight fire on Oct. 16, 2020, with one person being charged nine months later.

Click to play video: 'Seized traps returned to Sipekne’katik, which plans to launch ceremonial fishery next week'
Seized traps returned to Sipekne’katik, which plans to launch ceremonial fishery next week

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2021.

 

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