Shots fired in New Brunswick in fishery clash

BURNT CHURCH, New Brunswick – Shots were fired across the waters of Miramichi Bay on Sunday night, where native and non-natives have clashed in a dispute over a fall lobster fishery.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police confirmed there was a confrontation on the water when about 40 to 50 non-native fishermen from surrounding communities headed out on the water to protest the closure of the herring fishery.

They were met by several tribal members in about 10 boats from Burnt Church. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

The meeting of the two groups of boats led to high-speed chases in the area lasting about 30 minutes, said RCMP Inspector Kevin Vickers.

“There’s a war going on here right now,” said tribal fishermen Leo Bartibogue from one of the boats.

“Non-natives are over there cutting our traps and the RCMP aren’t doing anything. It’s just total chaos here.”

He said shots had been fired on members of the Burnt Church reserve by the non-native fishermen.

“There was a lot of gunfire,” said James Ward, a Micmac warrior at Burnt Church. “We got on a boat with the chief because we heard there were shots being fired.

“As soon as we got out … we were fired upon – more than five times. It just narrowly missed one of our guys.”

Ward said the fishermen will do a damage assessment of their traps Monday but he said some are known to have been pulled and cut.

Vickers said shots had been fired on the water, but also said shots had come from the reserve. He said the non-natives were from Baie-Ste-Anne and Neguac.

Bartibogue said more people from Burnt Church were patrolling their waters late Sunday, about two hours after the confrontation started.

A federal Fisheries Department spokesman who asked not to be identified also said the confrontation was winding down late Sunday.

“It has quieted down partly because of how dark it is, and some of the boats that went into the [native lobster fishing] zone have been seen leaving and going back to their ports.”