Commercial Groundfish Harvester Fined $23,000 for North Coast violations

A court case related to charges
from DFO Officers in 2012 & 2013
has delivered a verdict

A case that recently concluded in Port Hardy Provincial Court has led to a significant fine for a Commercial Groundfish Harvester, convicted of contraventions of the Fisheries Act related to a closed area in the Hartley Bay area.

Gordon Plensky, the Master and owner of the Fishing vessel Devotion was ordered to pay a fine of $14,500 for the Hartley Bay incident, he also pled guilty to charges related to a 2013 closed area violation in Gwaii Haanas, for that offence he was assessed an additional $8,500.

The Hartley Bay incident took place in an area south of Banks Island, located west of the North coast community.

One of the two incidents took place
South of Banks Island near
Hartley Bay

The two incidents go back to the summers of 2012 and 2013.

The court case relied on evidence gathered through the Dockside Monitoring program and At-sea Electronic monitoring program.

$11,500 of the fine was directed for the use of Fisheries and Oceans Canada to support the conservation and the protection of rockfish and their habitat.

As part of the sentence, the vessel master will have to comply with Fishing restrictions for One year.

You can review the background to the court case from this information item from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

For more background on fishing issues on the North Coast see our archive page here.