RCMP Investigates Another Pound of Lobster Burned to the Ground in Southwest NS – Halifax | The Canadian News

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

RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Chris Marshall said Friday that no injuries were reported and that no one was at the plant on Riverside Road in New Edinburgh, NS, when it caught fire.

The lobster pound was the scene of protests on October 15, 2020, involving people upset over the launch of an indigenous self-regulating lobster fishery that had been opened outside of the federally regulated fishing season.

Marshall says it is too early to say if the fire is suspicious.

During protests last year, some 200 commercial fishermen and community supporters damaged the New Edinburgh facility, where Mi’kmaq fishermen had stored their catch.

Sipekne’katik First Nation Chief Mike Sack says in a press release that his band’s fishery is not associated with the New Edinburgh plant and says he was relieved to learn that no one was injured.

A pound of lobster in Middle West Pubnico, NS, was destroyed in a night fire on October 16, 2020, and one person was charged nine months later.

1:59The seized traps have returned to Sipekne’katik, which plans to launch a ceremonial fishery next week.

This Canadian Press report was first published on November 26, 2021.