A provincial court judge will rule in January whether three Mi’kmaw men were guilty of illegal fishing when they landed hundreds of kilograms of lobster at a Weymouth, Nova Scotia, wharf in November 2018.
Closing arguments were delivered Tuesday in Digby provincial court.
The Crown said it was a clear violation of communal licence conditions, while the lawyer for the fishermen argued they were exercising treaty rights.
Logan Pierro-Howe, James Wallace Nevin and Leon Knockwood are accused of three fisheries violations when they landed 21 traps and 13 crates of lobster weighing 602 kilograms from the fishing boat Evening Star 2 at Weymouth on Nov. 26, 2018.
Crown lawyer Hugh Robichaud said it exceeded the three-trap, 40.8-kilogram daily limit contained in the food, social and ceremonial licence held by two of the men.
“That amount of lobsters is clearly beyond the [food, social and ceremonial licence] limits,” Robichaud told provincial court Judge Tim Landry.
Michael MacDonald, appearing on behalf of Pierro-Howe, Nevin and Knockwood, said it is common practice to return found traps to a wharf. He said none of them touched the lobster after it was landed. He also said there is no proof to indicate under which licence the crustaceans were caught.
The rest of his remarks were based on constitutional claims.
MacDonald said Sipekne’katik First Nation leadership had authorized a moderate livelihood fishery “and to me, your honour, that would be the authorization that they require from the band,” MacDonald said.