There were two recent convictions in Powell River provincial court related to fisheries offences.
On February 4, Hai Trinh, of Vancouver, was fined $30,000 under the Fisheries Act.
Trinh entered guilty pleas to five counts under the Fisheries Act.
According to Matt Conley, fishery officer and field supervisor with Powell River’s Fisheries and Oceans Canada office, Trinh was fined $12,000 for hauling the day after the closure of the season, $10,000 for undersized prawns, $3,000 for failure to maintain harvest logs, $1,000 for failure to notify the service operator of hauls and $4,000 for possession of illegally caught prawns.
Conley said Trinh forfeited $12,630.20 of seized prawns and tubs of undersized prawns were also forfeited.
Trinh has until February 4, 2023, to pay the fines, according to the sentencing order, heard before judge James Wingham.
On January 19, Fidel William Fogarty of Powell River was fined $2,500 after pleading guilty to two counts under the Fisheries Act. According to a court transcript, judge Wingham stated the counts included fishing without a licence and taking more than a daily quota of oysters as allowed.
“That amount, according to the crown, is seven-and-a-half times of the legal limit for the day; there were 101 oysters,” stated Wingham in his judgment. “You indicate that you took them not for resale and that is not being alleged by the crown, but your own personal use and that you were planning to eat them over a period of time.”
Wingham gave Fogarty one year to pay the fine.
