Nova ScotiaCharge under Fisheries Act stems from a 2024 incident where a boat is alleged to have come within 100 metres of the whale. Charge under Fisheries Act stems from 2024 incidentLuke Ettinger · CBC News · Posted: Nov 19, 2025 10:38 AM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 2 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.A Nova Scotia rafting company and its owner have pleaded not guilty to disturbing a marine mammal. (Luke Ettinger/CBC)A Nova Scotia rafting company and its owner pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to disturbing a marine mammal without authorization.The case in Truro provincial court involves a humpback whale.Shubie River Wranglers, which offers rafting excursions, and its owner Emmett Blois were first charged in October under the Fisheries Act. They were initially facing five charges, but the federal government consolidated them into one charge on Wednesday. The remaining charge against both stems from an incident on July 1, 2024 where a boat is alleged to have come within 100 metres of a humpback whale. A lawyer representing Blois and the company entered the not guilty plea. Shubie River Wranglers is among a handful of companies that operate zodiac boat tours on the tidal bore that forms as water rushes into the mouth of the Shubenacadie River from the Cobequid Bay. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans said a video posted to the company’s social media page led to an investigation by fishery officers. It can take one to two years for a Fisheries Act violation to go from an initial arrest or charge to prosecution, according to a statement from the department.On July 1, 2024, a humpback whale was spotted alive by rafting companies, but washed up dead near the Town of Stewiacke three days later.The federal government said there is no evidence to suggest the interaction between the Shubie River Wranglers’ boat and the death of the whale are connected. Blois and Shubie River Wranglers are due back in court in March with a trial scheduled for July.A summary conviction under the Fisheries Act carries a fine as high as $100,000, while a conviction on an indictable offence carries a fine up to $500,000.MORE TOP STORIESABOUT THE AUTHORLuke Ettinger is a reporter with CBC Nova Scotia based in Truro. Reach him at luke.ettinger@cbc.ca.
N.S. rafting business pleads not guilty to disturbing humpback whale
