A week and a half after Wine Harbour Fisheries was ordered to pull its baby eel — or elver — nets out of the water, poachers are at work on the Liscomb River, 170 kilometres from Halifax on the Eastern Shore.

"Our net should be here, not some illegal fisherman," says Brenda Golden, a co-owner of Wine Harbour Fisheries.

Golden is looking under the Liscomb River bridge where a fine mesh net supported by floats stretches into the black foamy water.

She has no doubts it's there to catch hugely valuable, tiny, translucent "glass eels" that are shipped live to Asia and grown for food. They can fetch up to $5,000 a kilogram.

Hoping to have the net removed, Golden's daughter reported it to the local Department of Fisheries and Oceans on Tuesday.

"She contacted DFO here in Sherbrooke. She was told to the best of my knowledge that they are on strike and will not be coming to look after it. This net could be full of eel, dying. Where's conservation? Where's DFO doing their job?" Golden said in a riverside interview.

Fisheries officials did not provide a response when asked about this incident or the impact of the ongoing Public Service Alliance of Canada strike on its ability to rein in widespread illegal harvesting.

Reality check from fishery officers union

Meanwhile, a union official who represents striking fishery officers said they are not patrolling rivers.

Scott Mossman is the local president of the Union of Health and Environment Workers, which is part of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

He says while many fishery officers are designated essential to protect the safety of Canadians, they are only enforcing shellfish contaminated areas to ensure people do not get ill.

"Though fishery officers are usually patrolling to enforce conservation measures and laws for fish species, currently that is not a function that is deemed essential for the safety and security of Canadians, therefore, patrols to enforce closures and other laws related to conservation and catches are not being done during this period of the strike," Mossman said in a statement to CBC News Wednesday night.

"Though there are concerns with violence between persons within fisheries such as the illegal elver fishery, fishery officers are not empowered to enforce public safety other than [what] was linked directly to their authority under the Fisheries Act. That role falls to the police force of jurisdiction such as the RCMP."

Poachers are at work on the Liscomb River 170 kilometres from Halifax on the Eastern Shore. (Paul Withers/CBC)

DFO minister says it's illegal

Wine Harbour is one of nine commercial elver licence holders and two Indigenous groups in the Maritimes ordered to cease operations because of what federal Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray called a "huge escalation" in illegal "poaching."

Illegal harvesting has been carried out by non-Indigenous and Indigenous groups that aren't members of First Nations with DFO-approved plans to conduct a moderate livelihood elver fishery.

'It's deplorable'

Wine Harbour had landed just 33 kilograms of its 1,000-kilogram quota for elvers when the fishery was closed.

"Last year we paid almost a quarter million dollars to workers. This year they've got nothing. We've made nothing," Golden said.

It was one of her employees — Shelley Bowen — who came upon the net during an interview with CBC this week in Liscomb.

"It's definitely in there for elvers. It's deplorable," says Bowen.

She's one of 20 people thrown out of work when Wine Harbour was closed down. Getting enough weeks to qualify for employment insurance will be difficult this year.

"I'm not too happy, and a lot of other people aren't neither. I think it's without justification," she told CBC News.

"I don't understand why we can't still be fishing if the illegals are fishing anyway. They're only hurting the licence holders."

Brenda Golden is a co-owner of Wine Harbour Fisheries. (Paul Withers/CBC)

Illegal elver fishery continues elsewhere

The DFO-ordered shutdown has not stopped Illegal elver fishing elsewhere in Nova Scotia, either.

Time-stamped images of elver fishing on a half dozen rivers were provided to CBC News and DFO by Atlantic Elver Fishery, another commercial licence holder operating south of Halifax.

They include fishing on the East River near Chester, which is used by fisheries staff to monitor the health of stock.

Shelley Bowen works at Wine Harbour Fisheries and came upon the net during an interview with CBC this week in Liscomb. (Paul Withers/CBC)

South Shore-St. Margarets Conservative MP Rick Perkins asked Murray about it Monday in the House of Commons in Ottawa.

"No one from DFO has been on that river. And if you can believe it, DFO enforcement called the licence holder this morning proactively to say that they won't be monitoring the river," Perkins said.

"We closed down the fishery to protect public safety and conservation," Murray responded.

"But enforcement continues for the closed elver fishery, so we are working to reduce the amount of illegal fishery and will continue to do just that here," she said.

Mi'kmaw leaders silent

The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs has been silent on DFO's decision to close the elver fishery, and on the role of Indigenous harvesters in the illegal fishery.

Fisheries lead Chief Gerald Toney of the Annapolis Valley First Nation declined to comment when approached by CBC News recently.

Four Nova Scotia First Nations had "interim understandings" with DFO for a department-approved moderate livelihood elver fishery in 2023. They shared a 450-kilogram limit, which was taken from the allocation of the eight non-Indigenous commercial licence holders. We'koqma'q First Nation in Cape Breton also has a commercial licence.

Poaching continues uninterrupted on some Nova Scotia rivers despite a federal shutdown of the eel fishery earlier this month, new video and still photographs show.

Images of active fishing for the tiny eels, also known as elvers, were provided to CBC News and the federal government by a frustrated commercial elver licence holder. Some images were taken as recently as Sunday night.

Fisheries and Oceans Minister Joyce Murray issued an order closing the chaotic and occasionally violent elver fishery on April 15 because of what she called a "huge escalation" in illegal fishing by poachers.

They included Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

But the order is being ignored, says Stanley King of Atlantic Elver Fishery.

"This is the sixth report of poaching I've made since the minister shut the fishery down one week ago today," King said in an April 22 email to Timothy Kerr, director of conservation and protection for the Maritime region with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).

"The [order] only punished the licensed fishers as it's clear from years past, and holds true today, that poachers continue to fish regardless.... DFO [conservation and protection] refuses to enforce despite claims the [order] gives them more enforcing resources. In all my years fishing I have never seen so little enforcement in a season."

The order effectively ended the season for nine commercial licence holders and two Indigenous groups operating under their treaty right to a "moderate livelihood" elver fishery.

"I understand that shutting down the fishery is difficult for legitimate fish harvesters," Murray told CBC News after the shutdown.

"It was simply too dangerous to let this continue…. I was not prepared to take the risk of harm to human life, which was certainly a possibility, and nor am I willing to take a risk of the undermining of this stock, which is a very important one, and that was also a risk with poaching."

Elvers are caught each spring as they migrate from the ocean into nearly 200 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick rivers. They sell for up to $5,000 a kilogram and are flown live to Asia where they are grown for food.

King is part of a delegation of Maritime commercial elver licence holders in Ottawa this week meeting with politicians — including Nova Scotia cabinet minister Sean Fraser — to voice their concerns about the troubled fishery. They are scheduled to meet with Murray on Wednesday.

Illegal fishing activity

King has provided post-closure images of poachers at stationary nets, in boats and dipping from the East River, Hubbards River, Ingramport River, Mushamush River and Sackville River.

DFO grants each licence holder exclusive access to several rivers.

Illegal fishing activity has happened on many other rivers.

     A fyke net pictured is a type of fish trap. (Atlantic Elver Fishery) 

The East River near Chester, N.S., is of particular concern as it is home to the longest-running scientific study on elvers in North America. DFO uses it as an "index river " to measure the health of stock.

"All licence holders and DFO science agree that if enforcement can only happen on one river, it should be the East River to protect the study. We implore you to take a more proactive approach" in enforcement on the East River, King wrote.

"We've repeatedly asked for this river to be protected, starting before the season even began, but know of only one instance of [fisheries officials] visiting the river this year."

DFO did not provide a response when asked by CBC News for the impact of the Public Service Alliance strike by federal government workers on its ability to stop illegal elver fishing.

'Lawlessness on our rivers'

Nova Scotia Conservative MP Rick Perkins says it has worsened "lawlessness on our rivers."

"Now, of the few DFO arrests of the thousands of poachers on the rivers this year, all have been released by DFO without processing because DFO enforcement is on strike, leaving no enforcement of any fishery in Canada," Perkins declared Friday.

Conservation and protection director Tim Kerr told CBC News last week DFO has beefed up enforcement since the shutdown and patrols and arrests continue.

There have also been fights between groups trying to fish for elvers this season. (Atlantic Elver Fishery)

Some fishery officers have been designated as essential workers.

"Individuals who may be out and about would see fishery officers continue to be present at the detachments and continue to fulfil those obligations to support public health and safety," Kerr said.

The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs has been silent on DFO's decision to close the elver fishery, and on the role of Indigenous harvesters in the illegal fishery.

Four Nova Scotia First Nations had "interim understandings" with DFO for a department-approved moderate livelihood elver fishery in 2023. They shared a 450-kilogram limit ,which was taken from the allocation of the eight non-Indigenous commercial licence holders. Waycobah Band in Cape Breton also has a commercial licence.

'We are allowed to fish anywhere we want'

Some members of First Nations outside those deals claim they don't need DFO permission to fish elvers.

"As Mi'kmaw people, all of this is our territory. It's unceded Mi'kmaw land and we are allowed to fish anywhere we want," one Sipekne'katik band member told fishery officers who blocked them from the Sissiboo River in Digby County earlier this month.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada's top enforcement officer in the Maritimes says an "unprecedented" number of poachers descended on Nova Scotia and New Brunswick rivers this spring to illegally remove baby eels, also known as elvers.

They overwhelmed the department's ability to safely and sustainably manage the most lucrative fishery, by weight, in Canada.

"Every day the total number of harvesters that didn't have an authorization that we either observed or that were reported to us, numbered in the hundreds," said Timothy Kerr, director of conservation and protection for the Maritime region with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).

Some were Indigenous and some were not, he said.

All were attracted by an elver fishery in which the going rate is $5,000 a kilogram.

The translucent juvenile American eels, also known as glass eels, are sold live and grown for food.

Timothy Kerr is the director of conservation and protection for the Maritime region with Fisheries and Oceans Canada. (CBC)

In an interview with CBC, Kerr said the sheer volume of illegal fishing posed a conservation threat.

"The fact we didn't know what was coming out of the river due to the numbers of unauthorized harvesters and unreported removals meant we couldn't manage this fishery and there was significant risk to the species and that's why it was shut down."

Fisheries Minister Joyce Murray issued an order last weekend closing the Maritime elver fishery, citing conservation and safety concerns due to incidents of harassment and violence near some rivers.

The regulated fishery has a total allowable catch of 9,640 kilograms shared between nine commercial licence holders, including the We'koqma'q First Nation in Cape Breton.

Two more communal commercial licences have been issued to two Indigenous groups in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to support the treaty right to a moderate livelihood from fishing.

DFO has accepted individual management plans developed by First Nations.

Some commercial licence holders say they are being unfairly penalized.

On Wednesday, commercial licence holder Wine Harbour Fisheries served notice it is seeking a judicial review to quash the shutdown order.

Wine Harbour had only landed 33 kilograms of its 1,000-kilogram quota before the shutdown.

DFO not doing its job, commercial licence holder says

In its notice it said, "To the extent there is unauthorized fishing this is due to the DFO's failure to properly enforce the law and prevent unauthorized fishing."

The company fishes a remote section of Nova Scotia's Eastern Shore. It says it provided DFO with detailed information about incidents including photos of individuals, video and licence plates without a response.

Kerr says fishery officers could not be everywhere at once given that there are over 100 elver-bearing rivers in Nova Scotia and 90 in New Brunswick.

DFO river patrols and seizures

"Due to the sheer volume and the sheer numbers of harvesters we weren't able to respond to every single case or piece of information we received. But I can assure you that DFO officers and fishery officers were out there on the job every day doing controls at the rivers, making arrests, seizures, where we could."

DFO says it did 741 river patrols.

Kerr says officers, in co-ordination with other federal agencies, also monitored holding facilities, border crossings between provinces, between Canada and the United States, ferries and airports including Toronto.

     A bucket of elvers is shown near Chester, N.S., in 2019. (Richard Cuthbertson/CBC)

"We have investigations and I can't get into details, but we are being successful in deterring and disrupting export of elver at those exit points," Kerr said.

Since the shutdown, DFO has increased the number of enforcement personnel on the elver fishery, bringing in people from outside the Maritimes and reassigning others from within the region.

Conservation risk

"Fishery officers across the region have conducted patrols of rivers. They've made some arrests and seizures of gear. But by and large we've seen what I believe to be an acknowledgement, and I guess co-operation from individuals who previously were harvesting," he said.

Kerr was referring to Indigenous people belonging to First Nations that are not part of the DFO-approved elver fishery. They have asserted their treaty rights to fish without DFO approval in numerous encounters with DFO.

He said they appear to have backed off.

"I guess I would say that I believe that is the case. I would also say that, after having conversations with many of the leaders of the First Nations in our region, that every First Nation does set — as a priority — conservation of all species that their members fish," he said.

"We've demonstrated through our observations there's an unprecedented number of unauthorized harvesters, which leads to us not being able to track the removals.... they accept that there is a conservation risk."