Canadian officials recently seized more than CAD 50,000 (US 38,000, EUR 33,000) worth of lobster from a Nova Scotia seafood distributor - just one of many recent lobster seizures by the government.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans seized more than 100 crates of lobster from an unnamed seafood distributor in New Edinburgh, Nova Scotia, because they were caught under an Indigenous food, social and ceremonial fisheries license, CBC reported.
"At this time, the minister of Fisheries [and] Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard has not authorized the sale of FSC [food, social and ceremonial] harvested fish,” wrote Debbie Buott-Matheson, a spokesperson for DFO, told CBC.
DFO will not name the distributor, because the matter is under investigation.
The agency also recently seized lobster meat from two restaurants in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, “after the businesses couldn’t prove that the seafood was legally purchased,” DFO tweeted.
In addition, DFO officers in Nova Scotia seized lobster gear based on a number of violations, including size limit, the illegal use of bait, blocked escape vents, and untagged or invalid tags on traps. The officers released more than 700 lobsters back into the ocean and seized 47 of the 128 traps they inspected.
