As per the press communiqué Fisheries and Oceans Canada has handed down fines for lobster and snow crab violations to four convicted individuals. After thorough investigation the provincial court at Grand Bank convicted Ralph Monster of Fortune of possessing of undersized snow crab. Monster was fined $1,000 and 1,062 pounds of snow crab, valued at over $675, was forfeited by the court.
On June 7, 2008 fishery officers from the Marystown detachment inspected a sample of Monster’s snow crab catch and determined that a large percentage of the catch was undersized. In another provincial court at Harbour Grace on September 8, 2009, Robert Ellis Jr. of Hants Harbour was convicted with possession of v-notched lobsters and fined $1,000. On June 25, 2009 fishery officers from the Bay Roberts detachment found three v-notched lobsters during an inspection of lobster holding pens in the Hants Harbour area.
On September 9, 2009 in provincial court at Placentia, Gregory Careen of Branch, St. Mary’s Bay was fined $500 for fishing snow crab without an operational vessel monitoring system (VMS). On April 26, 2009 fishery officers from the Placentia detachment conducted an inspection of Careen’s fishing vessel offloading snow crab in Branch.
Herbert Cooper of Old Perlican was fined $450 by the provincial court at Harbour Grace for possession of undersized lobster. On May 13, 2009 fishery officers from the Bay Roberts detachment were on routine patrol in Old Perlican and inspected Cooper’s lobster holding crate and discovered the undersized lobsters.
