SAINT JOHN, New Brunswick – The Canadian government is close to approving an earlier start to the lobster season in a disputed area of the Bay of Fundy to avoid turmoil between Canadian and American fishermen.

Fisheries Minister Robert Thibault has yet to make a final decision, but said Wednesday there are no drawbacks to the request from Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, fishermen who want to take to the water by the end of this month.

The season traditionally has started in November, and fisheries officials last year allowed Canadian lobstermen to pull traps beginning in August. “They wouldn’t be joining an existing [American] fishery and there wouldn’t be that turmoil or that problem of maybe competing for trap space,” Thibault said from Ottawa.

Thibault added that the earlier start would also allow Canada to flex its sovereignty in the lucrative 110-square-mile “gray zone” near Machias Seal Island, waters that are claimed by both Canada and the United States.

“I think it’s important that we have a presence on the water and that we defend our rights, our territories,” Thibault said.

For 25 years, both Canada and the United States have laid claim to the disputed waters south of Machias Seal Island, which is about 10 miles from both Grand Manan Island and the Maine coastline.

After years of failed negotiations, however, 18 vessels from Grand Manan were dispatched with federal licenses for the new lobster fishery area last August to counter what had been an exclusive American fishing presence in the disputed waters.

Thibault said there would be a similar number of Canadian boats in the area this year.

He said the two countries will again be fishing the area without a co-management plan for conserving the lobster population.