LOBSTER CATCHES STIR VIOLENT CLASHES.(BUSINESS)

Byline: TOM COHEN Associated Press

TORONTO -- A conflict dating back to the arrival of white settlers in North America has rekindled off the coast of eastern Canada, with Native American fishermen and government agents battling over fishing rights.

In three recent raids by federal fisheries officials backed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Coast Guard vessels, an estimated 2,000 Indian lobster traps have been seized or destroyed with a handful of Indians arrested.

Two of the raiding officers were wounded in the face from rocks thrown by Indians trying to ward off the raiders, and two Indian boats sank while others were rammed in increasingly dangerous boat battles in Miramichi Bay on the New Brunswick coast.

Bolstered by video footage that showed their boats being rammed, the Indians now …