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An American fisherman operating disputed lobster areas off the coast is said to have been stopped and interrogated by US Border officers, as were his Canadian counterparts who complained of being targeted in the same way. area near the island Machias Seal. John Drouin of Cutler, Maine, said on Friday that he had been out about two weeks ago when US patrol agents came to pick him up his boat in the so-called gray area for him. ask where he was from and see his paperwork.
The seasoned fisherman said that he was slightly perplexed about the encounter, having rarely seen patrollers in the area for more than four decades of fishing in the rich lobster swamp, a phenomenon that Canadian fishermen have described as again and unusual
. I told myself that I was not driving my vehicle, so I do not have my driver's license, he said in an interview at his home.
"We are at a different time and the border patrol is patrolling … their presence is much more visible. "
Contested Border Area
The 53-year-old fisherman, who has seen a patrol boat only once or twice in recent years, said that he asked the officers what was going on. they did and said that it was only said that they were there to "document who was in the area."
The Customs and Border Protection Service said Thursday in a e-mail that agents were applying "immigration laws and other federal law offenses that they might encounter in the performance of their duties during the course of the operation." June 24 and 25 in the Gulf of Maine, near Machias Seal Island (Dr. Andrew Vaughan / Canadian Press)
Drouin says his two sons were recently arrested while They were fishing in the disputed area of Machias Seal Island, about 19 kilometers southwest of Gr Island. and Manan and East Maine. It is in a disputed area known as the gray area, where lobster fishermen from Canada and the United States have been fishing side by side for a long time.
Drouin, a member of the Maine Lobster Advisory Council, testified that he witnessed three other vessels.
"I really do not know what's going on," he said, adding that a directive to patrol the area may be related to a security problem. wider culture change with the election of US President Donald Trump. We are in another era, we know that he is doing a wonderful job in taking away the rest of the world. "
A group of Canadian fishermen said this week that in the past two weeks, at least 10 New Brunswick fishing boats have
Laurence Cook from the Lobster Fishing Area Advisory Committee 38 stated that some Canadian ships had been boarded by US agents who had asked them questions about possible illegal immigrants
.A bit of a misunderstanding there somewhere, "Cook said. "They are in international waters, so the border patrol should not board Canadian ships."
Intense Fishing Contest
A Global Affairs Canada spokesperson stated that he contacted US agencies about these meetings. The government considers its sovereignty over the region "old" and based on international law.
The small island is a flat, treeless rock with a large puffin colony and a lighthouse occupied by two Canadian lighthouse keepers.
However, Canada and the United States both claim sovereign jurisdiction over the island and the surrounding waters at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy.
As lucrative lobster catches rose in the area, Stephen Kelly, a researcher at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, said that neither country nor the other country He agreed that there was a gray area and that "it created more tension." Drouin said the area has been "flooded" with Canadian lobster fishermen since 2002.
"The resource is overexploited," he said. "In our opinion, Canadians are no longer managing the resource."
