The Fisheries and Oceans Canada investigated the case of a Surrey, B.C., man who engaged in illegal crab fishing practices, which resulted in a conviction, $7000 fine and a one-year licence suspension. The man, Dinh Ly Hoang, was convicted in June 2008 in Surrey Provincial Court, of the two offences contrary to the Fisheries Act.
According to the authority Hoang’s offences were catching and retaining Dungeness crab that were less than 165mm in width, and failing to return the undersized crab to the place from which they were taken. It in August last year when the fishery officers had conducted a licence inspection of the vessel CEE GEE 1 off Roberts Bank in the Strait of Georgia.
The probe revealed that 326 of the 688 Dungeness crab on board were female or less than 165 mm in width, a direct violation of commercial crab licence conditions. In a subsequent investigation when the vessel CEE GEE 1 was returning to port in Steveston Harbour, fishery officers observed that a significant number of the Dungeness crab on board were female or undersized.
Hoang was pleaded guilty in the court and was fined $7,000, to be paid to the Receiver General of Canada, and had his crab fishing licence suspended for a period of one year. The court said that the verdict is a lesson for proper management and control of the crab fishery and crab habitat.
