Breach of Commercial Prawn Fishery to cost McNeill Fishing Ltd over $33,000

Prawn violations bring fines and forfeiture for fishing company on
North Coast/Haida Gwaii
(photo from DFO)

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has outlined the details of a December court case which saw McNeill Fishing Limited plead guilty to a number of violations of the Fisheries Act and assessed a 20,000 dollar financial penalty and forfeiture of close to 14,000 dollars  from the proceeds of sale and seized commercial spot prawn.

The case which was heard in Prince Rupert in December of 2017, and involved fishing operations from the Spring of last year in waters near Haida Gwaii and Prince Rupert.

It is the second time that the McNeill Fishing company has been in violation of the rules, with a similar 20,000 dollar fine and forfeiture order put in place back in 2016.

As part of the sentence from December, it was directed that $16,500 of the fine be directed to fish and fish habitat conservation in Haida Gwaii.

Also included in the court order is a prohibition that states McNeill Fishing Ltd, during a period from January 1 2018 and October 4 2019 shall not employ, direct or permit Michel Stanley McNeill to participate in its commercial prawn fishing operations, if any.

More details related to the ruling can be reviewed here.

A review of the case and additional notes from the fishing company can be found from the Haida Gwaii Observer.

A wider look at the work of Emergency and law enforcement personnel across the Northwest can be found on our Emergency Responders archive page here.

For more items of interest on the North Coast Fishery see our archive page here.



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