Fishermen Block Main Street In Peaceful Protest

Hundreds of commercial fishermen and their supporters shut down a portion of Main Street in Yarmouth as part of a peaceful protest on Friday morning.

The crowd gathered in front of the DFO office, pasting placards and signage on the building with messages including “D.F.O. do your job”, “Peace and Friendship”, “Season for a Reason”, and “Wake up Ottawa”.

The protestors blocked Main Street at the DFO office with a vehicle, and a large crowd held the line in the street.

One protestor noted that they’re hoping the peaceful action and blockade will bring attention to their plight.

The action took a turn when some protestors broke off and converged at the Y95 studios to demand coverage.

They moved on to Town Hall, followed by Forest Street where another blockade formed.

The Town of Yarmouth issued a notice at 9:00 a.m. stating that transit routes are affected by the protest.

The Stop in front of Murray Manor on Main Street is not accessible.
Riders will need to use the next stop at Alma Square
A temporary route to avoid the protest will see the bus travel North on Main Street turning West on Haskell Street, then north on Water Street, and finally east on Forest Street back up to Main Street.
Updates will be made as soon as the normal route can be resumed.

Commercial fishermen have been participating in protests around the Tri-Counties and South Shore since late August to bring attention to what they call an illegal, out-of-season lobster fishery happening in St. Mary’s Bay in Digby County.

The fishers are demanding that DFO enforce their own rules.

Protests have also been held at Minister of Fisheries, Oceans, and the Canadian Coast Guard MP Bernadette Jordan’s office in Bridgewater, the Meteghan wharf, and the DFO office in Meteghan.

The Sipekne’katik First Nation launched their own self-governed Moderate Livelihood fishery in St. Mary’s Bay on September 17th, the 21st anniversary of the Marshall decision.