Published Dec 02, 2025Last updated 9 minutes ago7 minute readAtlantic ChiCan alleges that Mao and Man hid their illicit lobster dealing and troubles with the law from company owner Jim He, meanwhile buying into Sable River’s Independent Fisheries, stealing customers and former employees, according to court documents. Photo by Brice McVicar /Brunswick NewsArticle contentA much-celebrated early Chinese investment in Nova Scotia’s fishery has resulted in regulatory charges, allegations of laundering illegally caught lobster and lawsuits.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.Subscribe now to access this story and more:Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsSUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES.Subscribe or sign in to your account to continue your reading experience.Unlimited access to the website and appExclusive access to premium content, newsletters and podcastsFull access to the e-Edition app, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment onEnjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalistsSupport local journalists and the next generation of journalistsRegister to unlock more articles.Create an account or sign in to continue your reading experience.Access additional stories every monthShare your thoughts and join the conversation in our commenting communityGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorArticle contentAccording to a suit filed in 2021 and renewed this July by Atlantic ChiCan Seafood, the problem lies with two of its former employees: Xiaoming (Mark) Mao and Chung Yung (Michael) Man.Article contentArticle contentAtlantic ChiCan alleges that Mao and Man hid their illicit lobster dealing and troubles with the law from company owner Jim He, meanwhile buying into Sable River’s Independent Fisheries, stealing customers and former employees.Article contentArticle contentFor their part, Mao and Man deny that they were ever employees of Atlantic ChiCan, along with all the accusations against them.Article contentThe suit puts what have become two of Atlantic Canada’s larger lobster players on a collision course to face off in court.Article contentIt joins a $10-million lawsuit by commercial fishermen against Mao and his company, Independent Fisheries, for allegedly profiteering off an unregulated First Nations lobster fishery on St. Mary’s Bay.Article contentThe accusations and counter-accusations in the filings paint a picture of a seafood trade where anything goes, until it doesn’t.Article contentChinese investmentArticle contentBy the 2010s, a growing middle class in China was hungry for Nova Scotia seafood.Article contentFrom $2 million in 1995, exports to the continent had grown to $132 million by 2014. Seeing Asia, and China in particular, as a market, source of investment and counter-balance to the lobster fishery’s long reliance on American consumers, then-premier Stephen McNeil began leading trade missions there.Article contentArticle content“Asia is a priority market for Nova Scotia seafood export development efforts,” said McNeil in a statement announcing a 2015 trade mission he led to Guangzhou, China.Article contentArticle content“We are committed to showcasing Nova Scotia seafood as high quality, premium, traceable, sustainable and delicious.”Article contentAccording to lawsuit filings, that push worked.Article content“In or around 2013, (Atlantic) Chican was founded by the He family, who are primarily based in China,” reads Atlantic ChiCan’s statement of claim.Article content“Through the Nova Scotia government’s efforts to promote Atlantic lobster in China, the He family decided to become involved in the Atlantic lobster business.”Article contentThe family began buying plants and holding facilities on Cape Sable Island.Article contentCourt documents note that because the He family is primarily based in China, in 2014 they hired Mao to be the manager of their facilities in Nova Scotia. Man was hired as assistant manager. Together, they were the most senior employees at ChiCan.Article contentOr at least, that’s what ChiCan alleges.Article contentIn their jointly submitted defence to the lawsuit, Mao claims he was never an employee of Atlantic ChiCan and challenges the company to prove different. Man acknowledges he worked as an employee but argues he was never the assistant manager or manager.Article content“Mao and Man were never provided formal titles and provided services as requested by Jim He, the president of the plaintiff,” reads the defence.Article content“Together, Mao and Man were primarily responsible for the purchase of lobsters from local Nova Scotian fishers on behalf of the plaintiff. Mr. He directed Mao and Man to purchase lobsters within a specified price range, and Mao and Man negotiated with local suppliers to purchase lobsters on behalf of Mr. He and the plaintiff.”Article contentAccording to the defence, Mao and Man didn’t know anything about Atlantic ChiCan’s customers in China and reported to Mr. He on a daily basis.Article contentArticle contentWhoever was at the helm, Atlantic ChiCan soon found itself in hot water.Article contentAccording to the statement of claim, in 2017 and then in 2018, Mao and Man received warnings from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency after inspections of Atlantic ChiCan facilities that weren’t reported to company owner Jim He.Article contentThose warnings were followed by more inspections, and this time there were charges.Article contentIn 2017 and then again in 2019, fisheries officers inspecting Atlantic ChiCan’s pound on the Orion Wharf Road found crates holding egg-bearing female lobsters, which are not supposed to be removed from the water. This booked Atlantic ChiCan two Fisheries Act charges.Article contentIn September 2019, Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspectors were back.Article contentOn “the same date CFIA attended the Chican site, Mao advised he needed to return to Ontario for family reasons and immediately resigned from his position,” reads the statement of claim.Article contentArticle contentWith Mao out, Man was promoted to manager. He held that job until March 1, 2021, when he resigned and said he was moving back to Vancouver.Article content Commercial fishermen allege a large fishery outside the commercial season is being pursued from the Saulnierville wharf. Photo by AARON BESWICK /The Chronicle Herald / FileArticle contentA month later, Atlantic ChiCan was hit with charges stemming from the 2019 inspection. The company would plead guilty to importing 63,000 pounds of live lobster from Maine and then re-exporting it to China as Canadian lobster to bypass tariffs. It would plead guilty to the charges and pay a $50,000 fine.Article contentTo the earlier Fisheries Act charges, Atlantic ChiCan would also plead guilty and pay a $75,000 fine.Article contentIt would have its processing licences suspended twice by the provincial government, once for 14 days and a second time for 21 days.Article contentAtlantic ChiCan brought in John Crandall Nickerson, a local veteran of the processing industry, to run its operations in Nova Scotia.Article content“We’ve been buying everything above board,” Nickerson told The Chronicle Herald in 2024 of how Atlantic ChiCan has been running its operations since.Article content“We’ll never, ever take a chance of forfeiting our business, our licences on doing something under the table.”Article contentMao and Man hadn’t left Nova Scotia, as they allegedly told their own bosses. They hadn’t even left the province’s seafood industry.Article contentIn 2018, while allegedly employed at Atlantic ChiCan, they had bought ownership stakes in Independent Fisheries in Sable River.Article content“Unbeknownst to ChiCan and its owners . . . all of the defendants were engaged in a scheme to benefit themselves at the expense of ChiCan and its ownership,” reads ChiCan’s statement of claim.Article contentAccording to the filing, Mao and Man directed ChiCan to “exponentially” increase its purchase of lobster from Independent Fisheries, “without properly tracking those purchases.”Article contentIndependent has been accused in a lawsuit filed by commercial fishermen last year of buying lobster harvested by First Nations without valid commercial licences and laundering them into the legal market.Article contentArticle contentMao and Man are also accused in the documents of directing Independent to import lobsters from the United States using Atlantic ChiCan’s licence.Article content“As a result of these activities, ChiCan suffered significant losses resulting from lost opportunities and costs, the full scope of which is still being calculated,” reads the statement of claim.Article content“Further, Mao and Man have improperly profited as a result of this misconduct through increased sales and commissions through Independent.”Article contentDefenceArticle contentMao and Man state that they were never title-holding employees at Atlantic ChiCan and never signed non-competition agreements.Article contentThough they acknowledge buying share in Independent Fisheries in 2018, they state in their jointly filed defence that they took no role in the operational decisions of that company until after ceasing work with Atlantic ChiCan.Article contentArticle contentMao and Man contend they directed their secretary to inform He’s secretary of the initial warning by the CFIA and that He was aware of, and continued on his own, the importing of American lobster for re-export to China.Article content“Mr. He was aware of the plaintiff’s process for exporting lobster from the United States to China and engaged in the same method for preparing export certificates as Mao,” reads the defence.Article content“Further, all wire transfer payments to the United States with respect to the plaintiff’s business were sent from Mr. He’s Vancouver office. Mao and Man had not authority to send wire transfer payments to the United States from the plaintiff’s plant in Nova Scotia. As such, Mr. He was aware of all of the plaintiff’s lobster purchases in the United States.”Article contentMao and Man further state that they kept He informed of business operations.Article content“Throughout the course of their respective engagements with the plaintiff, Mao and Man acted in the plaintiff’s best interest to develop relationships with other lobster suppliers,” reads their defence filed with the court.Article content“The plaintiff increased business volume each year and continued to purchase lobster from a variety of suppliers.”Article contentStaking claimsArticle contentSince they parted ways, both Atlantic ChiCan and Mao have grown their control over processing and export industries in Nova Scotia.Article contentIn 2022, Atlantic ChiCan opened a $15-million lobster processing facility in Clark’s Harbour, joining its other three pounds on Cape Sable Island. According to media reports from the time, some 70 per cent of its exports were going to China.Article contentThe company doesn’t appear to have had any trouble with the law since.Article contentMao, meanwhile, has also been busy. While serving as president of Independent Fisheries, where Man also continues to work, Mao has been buying up processing plants around Atlantic Canada.Article contentArticle contentAccording to provincial property records, in 2023 he became a director of BMC Seafoods Ltd. (he’s since become its president), which owns a large plant in Meteghan. In 2024, he became president of Oceans Edge Seafoods, which owns a plant in Salmon River.Article contentA numbered company of which Mao is a director, 10695807 Canada Inc., was one of three firms that purchased the American company Lobster Boys LLC, which owns a lobster-buying and processing facility in Dipper Harbour, N.B., as part of a 2024 bankruptcy sale.Article contentMao hasn’t been keeping as quiet as Atlantic ChiCan, at least according to $10 million lawsuit filed against him by the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance, which represents a host of inshore fishermen throughout Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.Article contentThat group hired private investigators to follow lobster being landed at a federal government wharf in Saulnierville by First Nations-owned vessels fishing outside the commercial season.Article contentThe suit, filed last fall, alleges that much of the catch was heading to Independent Fisheries for resale and export.Article contentNone of the accusations in either of the lawsuits have been proven in court.Article contentMao did not respond to The Chronicle Herald’s requests for comment.Article content
Charges, profiteering off the illegal fishery and lawsuits: How China’s first big investment in Nova Scotia lobster turned sour
