It was in November 2007 when fishery officers from the Marystown detachment of Fisheries and Oceans Canada have retrieved abandoned whelk gear located on St. Pierre Bank. After this there were total 316 whelk pots removed from the water. The authority has slapped the charges against the licence holder, Ms. Michelle Grandy of Garnish, for leaving fishing gear unattended for more than 72 consecutive hours and for failing to remove fishing gear from the water prior to the close of the fishery.
Last month in Grand Bank provincial court, Ms. Grandy was convicted and fined $2,500 for the unattended fishing gear, and $1,500 for failing to remove the fishing gear. The court had also ordered Grandy to pay an additional $4,737.96, which was the cost to retrieve the gear, and was prohibited from participating in the 2008 whelk season for five days.
In another case fishery officers from the Placentia detachment of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, while on patrol in the area of Southern Harbour, conducted a size sample inspection of crab being offloaded by a vessel at port. It was revealed that over 13 percent of the crabs retained were undersized. After the probe the samples of the undersized crab were seized, and Ernest Best of Southern Harbour was subsequently charged. Best was convicted in June 2008 in provincial court in Clarenville and sentenced to a fine of $1,000.
After these convictions it is believed that conservation and sustainable use are the primary concerns for snow crab management in Newfoundland and Labrador and the Conservation and Protection division of DFO works to ensure that the necessary safeguards are in place to protect the future of the fishery.
