OTTAWA--"Fisheries' new threat to arrest and take the licences of fishermen who protest the native-only commercial fishery won't deter fishermen," said John Cummins, M.P. (Delta-South Richmond).

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans on June 30, 1999 faxed a threat to fishermen that they risked arrest for "participating in protest fisheries in Barkely Sound on June 21, June 28, and any future protest fisheries."

Last weekend DFO in Port Alberni threatened to shut down the commercial gillnet fishery scheduled for June 28th if a protest fishery took place during the Somass native-only commercial fishery on Sunday the 27th.

When DFO was reminded that they would be held to account, as the courts had found the AFS fishery illegal, they withdrew the threat claiming it had been misrepresented. The protest fishery proceeded without incident.

"The unsigned faxed threat to prosecute fishermen who participate in a legitimate protest of the government's illegal native-only commercial fishery is another failed attempt to intimidate B.C. fishermen and an abuse of the authority given the department by Parliament."

The B.C. Provincial Court has found the native-only commercial fishery illegal every time it has had the opportunity to consider the matter. As of late last summer the department had given up attempts to prosecute fishermen involved in protesting the illegal fishery, returning nets and paying for fish that were confiscated.