Poaching is big business in the waters off south- west Nova Scotia. Here are the richest lobster grounds in the country with more fishermen than anywhere else in the Maritimes. In a six-month season they’ll pull in two hundred million dollars worth of the crustaceans but it’s suspected poachers will haul in at least another fifty million.

Patrolling this coastline are nine fishery officers with a challenge unique to most enforcement officers. They live in the small fishing communities where most of the poachers reside. Those who want to break the law, carefully watch their movements. So when they go undercover to catch the lawbreakers, they use the cover of fog and night instead of hiding their identity, a tough thing to do where everyone knows them.

Land & Sea spent a week with these officers recording what they have to go through so no one knows what they’re up to. It’s a week of fog and darkness on the water where the visibility is so bad that the officers are more dependent on their ears than their eyes to assess what’s going on.

It can be a frustrating job for officers like Dan Fleck and Trevor Lushington who are trying to protect a fishery so vital to the well being of fishing communities along this coast. Sometimes the poacher can use the cloak of fog to elude them but the fishery officers have had their successes as well. Last year they laid two hundred and fifty-one charges for fishing violations.

This show is an opportunity to get a taste of the challenges, frustrations, and motivations of the men and women who have chosen a career of protecting fish and the livelihoods of their neighbours.