Canada is giving a total of $5.3 million over three years to five companies for a series of projects to help protect the endangered species.

Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan said today in a news release that most of the so-called "ghost gear" collected were traps and pots from lobster and crab fishing.

Chief Mike Sack of the Sipekne'katik First Nation say they may reconsider should there be a change in the department's approach.

Chief Mike Sack says the seizures by Fisheries Department officers have undermined negotiations with Ottawa aimed at establishing a moderate livelihood fishery.

Dozens of people gathered in parks and parking lots on the shores of the LaHave River on Wednesday to watch the Cormorant leave its home in Bridgewater, N.S.

Chief Michael Sack told Global News that the Sipekne’katik First Nation has been unsuccessful in its attempts to talk with fisheries officials. 'Talks have broken down,' he said.

Osborne Burke said his industry association, which represents about 140 lobster processors and lobster pounds, supports treaty rights but it must be done under the rules set by the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Ashton Bernard, 30, of Eskasoni First Nation, says he will rely on the 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision in the Donald Marshall Jr. case.

The chief says he expressed his concerns to federal Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett on Saturday.

If the Department of Fisheries and Oceans has seized any traps, the assembly said they must be returned 'immediately.'