Monday, August 17, 2009

$50,000 fine and two-year licence suspension handed down in case of largest seizure of illegal lobsters in the Atlantic provinces


novanewsnow.com Sou'Wester $50,000 fine and two-year licence suspension handed down in case of largest seizure of illegal lobsters in the Atlantic provinces: "A Yarmouth County fishing captain has been fined $50,000 and suspended from lobster fishing for two years in what the court was told Friday was the largest seizure of illegal undersized lobsters ever in the Atlantic provinces.
Its a shame that this had to happen to a nice guy,but he brought this on himself,so its hard to feel sorry,but if people think for a minute that this man is the only one thats doing illegal activities,your dead wrong.
I wouldn't be surprised if 50% of fisherman haul a few more trawls and a few more traps than allowed.

Daniel Edward Doucette of Wedgeport was sentenced in provincial court in Yarmouth on Aug. 14 after pleading guilty months ago to possession of undersized lobsters.

With just five days left in the commercial lobster season in May 2008, DFO fishery officers ¬– following up on tips of illegal activity – seized the fishing vessel Kayla and Dylan at the Wedgeport Tuna Wharf. On the lobster boat were crates containing 5,330 illegal-sized lobsters that had been brought back to shore."

During Doucette’s sentencing hearing, the court was told that removing that many lobsters from the ocean equated to the removal of five to six million lobster eggs from the future resource. In this case the lobsters were returned to the water but the Crown noted that was only because the accused had been caught. In handing down his sentence, Judge Robert Prince said it was imperative that an important message be sent out that the lobster resource must be protected. Illegal activities of this type, the judge said, will carry a very large price tag indeed.

2 comments:

  1. Seems like no one wants to comment on this story,so i will.
    its a shame this had to happen to such a nice guy,but the amount of lobster he had was a bit much,so its hard to feel sorry for him at the same time,but i do.
    how is someone supposed to make a living for his family now,this is a question he should of asked himself if he ever got caught.
    I partially blame the lobster buyers for this,if the buyers didnt lowball us and lie to us at all cost and scare you into selling your lobster at the cheapest price and then hike the price up after everyone has sold,just to fuck us and to make a huge profit for themselves maybe people wouldnt have to fish undersized lobster or extra pots in the water.
    If the buyers dare to give us bull fucking shit this year and open the season with a price lower than 5.00$ they should all be dragged out of their million dollar homes,pelted with rocks and kicked in the head.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't feel bad for him at all,he got what he deserved....with that said hopefully this will keep others straight with the LAW by example. I want to give the judge a high 5.In 1998 I got caught fishing flounders without a license(which isn't like 5300 lbs of lobster)but I got a fine and had to deal with it.Now if I get caught doing anything illegal again(second affence)DFO will probably pelt me with rocks.

    ReplyDelete