Commercial fisherwoman lawsuit names over 100 alleged poachers and enablers, including Indigenous chief

 By John Chilibeck  Local Journalism Initiative Reporter A New Brunswick businesswoman is suing more than 100 people, most of them Indigenous, who she says are stealing American baby eels in the southern part of the province, threatening the species’ long-term survival. Mary Ann Holland accuses the senior leadership of the Wolastoqey First Nation in New Brunswick of encouraging its members to poach the eels, also called elvers or glass eels, on several rivers in 2022 and 2023. The businesswoman from Rothesay, near Saint John, has also taken legal action against Ottawa for the way it has managed the lucrative fishery in the Maritimes, whose seasons have been shortened or cancelled in three of the last five years over poaching concerns and dwindling stocks, including this year’s season. Dwindling eel stocks around…

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