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A variety of violations lead to fines in Plum Point court
PLUM POINT, NL – Several individuals, charged with a variety of fisheries violations, recently appeared in provincial court in Plum Point.
Darren Taylor, of Forrester’s Point, was fined $1,000 for obstructing fishery guardians.
On June 29, 2005, fishery guardians were conducting an evening stakeout near St. Genevieve River, a scheduled salmon river south of St. Barbe on the Great Northern Peninsula.
An ATV approached the location of the fishery guardians, who flagged the driver to stop, but instead, the driver increased speed and fled the scene dragging a fishery guardian a short distance. The fishery guardians identified Mr. Taylor as the driver; he was later apprehended at his residence.
Untagged salmon
On June 30, 2005, fishery guardians were staked out near the waterfall on St. Genevieve River in response to information of illegal salmon fishing activity in that area.
Fishery guardians observed Scott Dredge, of Black Duck Cove, return to his ATV parked at the side of the river, an area where ATVs are prohibited. An inspection recovered one untagged salmon.
Mr. Dredge was fined $500 for obstruction, $250 for possession of untagged salmon and the salmon forfeitured.
Vessel Monitoring System
An investigation compared Mr. Tucker’s VMS records with his catch landings from June through September, 2005 and concluded that he fished for capelin on four occasions and mackerel once without having his VMS activated.
An investigation compared Mr. Tucker’s VMS records with his catch landings from June through September, 2005 and concluded that he fished for capelin on four occasions and mackerel once without having his VMS activated.
Licence conditions for capelin, as with most major fisheries, require fishers to have an activated VMS aboard. VMS transmits vessel position information, at regular intervals, to Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the data is used monitor compliance with fisheries regulations.
Cod quota overrun
Baxter Chambers, of Pond Cove, and Gerald Chambers, of Blue Cove, were convicted of exceeding their quota during the 2005 commercial cod fishery on the West Coast. The two men were fishing their individual quotas from a single vessel, a voluntary measure available to fishers and known as “buddy-up”.
A review of their catch landing records confirmed that from July 18 to 24, 2005, they exceeded their combined 6000 lb weekly quota by 464 lbs each. Both were fined $500 each and an additional $225 respectively for the amount of their benefit from selling the cod overrun.
Lobster licence
Raymond Hynes, of Reefs Harbour, was fined $600 for failing to produce a lobster licence during a routine inspection by fishery officers from the St. Anthony Detachment. The incident occurred while fishery officers were patrolling coastal waters near Ferrolle Point on May 14, 2005.
For more information:
Kim Penney
Communications Officer
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
(709) 772-7629
Sam Whiffen
Agent des Communications
Pêches et Océans Canada
(709) 772-7631
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