CHELSEA: The Girl On The Boat
Chelsea Prosper leads by example, proving that women belong on the boat and in the fishery.
Chelsea Prosper is a young fisher from Pictou Landing First Nation, Nova Scotia, who grew up on the water fishing for lobster with her dad. Now in her 20s, Chelsea and her boyfriend Craig are strong advocates for the Mi’kmaq right to harvest lobster. Chelsea is equally determined to show other young women that there’s room on the deck for them, even doing the dirtiest type of fishing: herring. It wasn’t that long ago that fishing lobster from anywhere near the community’s shores was impossible, due to 50 years of pollution from a nearby pulp mill that pumped its waste into their backyard, Boat Harbour. Luckily for Pictou Landing First Nation, Chief Andrea Paul led the fight for clean water - and life is finally returning to A’sek (Boat Harbour) after the mill’s closure.