VANCOUVER – Members of the Tsawwassen and Musqueam First Nations are prepared to take part in a legal aboriginal fishery at the mouth of the Fraser River this weekend. The fishery is a legally constituted fishery based on historic aboriginal rights to fish and on fisheries agreements with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. This fishery falls within the conservation limits set by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
Tsawwassen Chief Kim Baird stated, “First Nations have gone through the courts and other processes to legitimize our fishery and are carrying on our business since the inception of the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy in 1992.”
In recent days, representatives from the Fisheries Survival Coalition have threatened to carry out an illegal fishery this weekend. A court injunction from 1998, still in effect today, bans the Coalition from fishing while the aboriginal fishery is taking place. This ban has to be enforced. They will be fishing illegally, as they have no authorization to fish.