The Marshall Decision infuriated local non-native fishermen who in the Miramichi Bay area are restricted to a two month season to conserve lobster stocks. Some responded by vandalizing native traps, which led to retaliation and attacks on the homes of non-native fishermen. Native fishermen responded by building a bonfire to block a highway along New Brunswick's east coast. The Burnt Church band took up its government provision of 5,000 traps to fish lobster during the commercial season. But the band is adamant that it has the right to govern its own fishery and claims it is entitled to 5,000 traps year round.
Government records for lobster fishing date back over a century.
Matthew Coon Come visited Burnt Church today and said that natives are merely claiming what is rightfully theirs. We have always been Nations and Peoples. This unique status has always been recognized in Canadian law and, since 1982, has been entrenched in Canada s constitution. We insist that governments and fishermen s organizations deal with us on a foundation of our inherent aboriginal and treaty rights. Coon Come said there is a gross disparity between the Mi kmaq and the non-native fishermen in the area.