NR-MAR-04-02E
FISHER PLEADS GUILTY FOR FISHING IN CORAL CONSERVATION AREA
March 31, 2004
Dartmouth, N.S. - A fisher from southwest Nova Scotia has been fined after pleading guilty to fishing without an observer in a section of an area closed to protect deep-sea corals in the Northeast Channel of Georges Bank.
In the first legal case to result from the 2002 closure, Patrick Kirk Simmons of Port Clyde, who is captain of the long-liner Maple Leaf 94, received a $5,000 fine and was ordered to pay $100 in court costs and forfeit 181 kilograms (400 lbs.) of groundfish. The case resulted from a routine fisheries patrol conducted by offshore surveillance officers from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) last August.
"The fine is significant in setting precedence for future cases," stated Leslie Burke, Regional Director of Fisheries Management, Maritimes Region. "More importantly, it will go a long way in deterring others from fishing in this area."
The Northeast Channel coral conservation area, about 140 kilometres off Cape Sable Island, was established after research indicated a high concentration of intact deep-sea corals in the area. This closure, which protects the sensitive area from possible impacts due to fishing, is part of DFO's ecosystem-based management strategy.
"We incorporate information into the management plans to protect the long-term sustainability of Canada's resources," Burke said. "The coral closure was introduced after consulting extensively with the fishing industry. There is widespread support for the measure."
Consultations are now under way with the fishing industry and other interested groups on specific management measures for the protection of another concentration of deep-sea corals in an area known as the Stone Fence, located near the Laurentian Channel about 260 kilometres east of Louisbourg, Nova Scotia.
The Northeast Channel Coral Conservation Area
- 30 -
To learn more about the development of the Northeast Channel Coral Conservation Area, please refer to the July 2002 DFO Backgrounder entitled: Deep-Sea Coral Research and Conservation in Offshore Nova Scotia.
FOR MORE INFORMATION::
|
