Annual Canada-U.S. Lobster Dispute Back
Posted on: Monday, 14 April 2008, 15:00 CDT
Lobster harvesting is set to resume off Maine with acrimony for the seventh summer as U.S. and Canadian trappers dispute territorial waters.
Known by both sides as the gray zone, the area lies around the 19-acre Machias Seal Island and has been in dispute because of vague wording in various treaties dating back to the 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the U.S. Revolutionary War, The Christian Science Monitor said Monday.
Things were tense, but fine until 2002 when Canada opened a new summer season, to which the United States objects, the report said. Also, each side has different catch and size regulations, which each side claims favors the other, the report said.
Every summer, about 35 boats from Washington County, Maine, and an average of 18 from Canada set as many as 34,000 traps, and fishermen from both sides told the newspaper vandalism of lobster pots and line slashing is a regular occurrence.
Maine lobster fisherman John Drouin told the Monitor he distrusts Canada's ocean management.
Because of the Canadian management practices, they've had a total groundfish collapse off Newfoundland, he said. I want to leave them to manage my lobster resource?
Source: United Press International
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