DEBORAH NOBES
Special to The Globe and Mail with a report from Caroline Alphonso in Vancouver.
Thursday, September 14, 2000 
BURNT CHURCH, N.B. --

Mother Nature may force an end to the lobster war at 
Burnt Church before mediation attempts resolve the crisis

Lobsters in Miramichi Bay have begun their fall migration to deeper water, driving native fishing boats farther offshore to set traps. Within a few weeks, scientists predict, most of the lobsters will be too far out for even the most determined native fishermen to reach in their small boats.

Bad weather too may discourage fishing: Cold autumn rains are expected over the weekend.

Burnt Church fisherman Leo Bartibogue confirmed yesterday that he found fewer lobsters than usual in his traps yesterday morning, and said he expects the native fishery to fall off by the end of September.

"I went out this morning, but the catch wasn't great; it has been better," Mr. Bartibogue said. "The lobster is moving out, and once it moves out, that's it; it's over."

Miramichi marine biologist Inka Milewski agreed the lobster have likely begun moving into colder water before the bay freezes up. She said the lobsters enter warm and shallow waters in spring to moult and lay eggs, but when that part of their life cycle has finished, they begin a mass migration to colder depths in the Northumberland Strait offshore.

"Like most marine organisms, they are responding to temperature cues, and they don't like warm water," she said. "They only like warm water if they are laying eggs and having babies, but once those eggs are hatched they move out."

The lobster may be leaving, but those at the heart of the crisis believe it will take more than nature to resolve whether the federal government or the Mi'kmaq people have the right to regulate native fishing in Atlantic Canada.

"The issue will still be here," Karen Somerville of the Burnt Church band said. "We know the lobster will migrate as they always have and we'll bring our boats in, but that won't change the issue of our rights."

Late yesterday afternoon, about 30 native women and children walked into the federal Department of Fisheries office in Tracadie, refusing to leave until traps and boats seized in the first of three major raids on the Burnt Church fishing grounds were returned to their owners. The RCMP sent in professional negotiators, and the group agreed to leave last night.

On Tuesday, federal officers arrested 16 Burnt Church natives, among them Chief Wilbur Dedam, and impounded four native-owned fishing vessels in a surprise raid less than 24 hours after former Ontario premier Bob Rae agreed to act as a mediator in the dispute.

Tuesday's raid was the third major assault by fisheries officers on the native fishery at Burnt Church. So far, the government has seized nearly 3,000 traps and six boats since the Burnt Church fall fishery opened on Aug. 10.

Late yesterday, the band announced it was ending "any dialogue or relationship" with the RCMP because of the force's involvement in the arrests.

Mr. Rae refused interviews yesterday, but through his secretary, he insisted negotiations have not been derailed by the government's action. He flew to New Brunswick from Toronto yesterday afternoon, hoping to schedule meetings with all parties within the next few days.

The Burnt Church natives got some support from the other side of the country yesterday when about 80 native protesters blocked a Canadian Pacific Railway line in Chase, B.C., causing "significant disruption," Ian LaCouvee of the CPR said.

The protesters, who said they object to the treatment of the Burnt Church band, blocked a major artery on the railroad line yesterday afternoon. The protest broke up later in the day.