Sipekne'katik First Nation's lobster study aims to assess impact of summer and fall fishing

In the darkness of an early morning, a lobster boat leaves the wharf and heads through Nova Scotia's St. Marys Bay into the open ocean. It rises on large waves as the wind blows through the open windows. Crew members talk and laugh as they drink their coffee. 

The boat, Mamma Ain't Happy, is owned by Sipekne'katik First Nation and is fishing under food, social, and ceremonial (FSC) tags. The tags are the license under which the lobster can legally be fished and allow the band to harvest it for those purposes but not to sell it.

After each trip, the catch is brought back to the community for lobster giveaways that feed most of the families in the second-largest Mi'kmaw band in Nova Scotia. 

But this boat doesn't just fish for people's supper. It's also a data collection site for a study on lobster conservation. 

Megan Bailey, Canada Research Chair in integrated ocean and coastal governance and a professor in Dalhousie University's marine affairs program in Halifax, stands on the deck with a clipboard as traps are brought up from the ocean floor. 

Each lobster is carefully examined by fisheries guardians from Sipekne'katik. They use calipers to measure the lobster's size, then squeeze certain places on the body to determine shell hardness, measured on the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) scale. 

Bailey takes notes and records these criteria, along with the sex of the lobsters. Those that are too small, soft or damaged are thrown back. Females with eggs are marked with what's known as a V-notch on their tail to let other fishers know not to harvest a breeder.