A Meteghan River lobster fisherman, Ronald Joseph LeBlanc, has learned the cost of doing business doesn’t come cheap. He was pleaded guilty to illegally fishing 64 untagged traps during the commercial lobster fishery last spring. Ronald Joseph LeBlanc is 48 years old and the court fined him $30,000.
In addition to that the court also forfeited $1,740 worth of seized lobster and the 64 traps. And LeBlanc is banned from fishing in lobster fishing area 34 during the last two weeks of the 2009 season. Crown attorney Rick Murphy said that untagged traps have the potential to bring you a lot of money if one fished them over a year’s period of time, the fine has to be more than the cost of doing business.
It is said that the court took into consideration a year’s earnings from 375 legal traps and divided the amount, determining that over the course of a season one trap can account for up to $600 worth of catch. Therefore, the fine is so big in order to deter people from doing that, informed Murphy.
LeBlanc’s illegal fishing activity was reported by public. DFO says there was surveillance involved, as well as other investigative techniques that the department is keeping to itself. Fishery officer Noel d’Entremont of the Meteghan DFO detachment, told that the operation ran over the course of three months and at its peak it involved six fishery officers and three coast Guard personnel.
He added that we used the Coast Guard vessel Geliget to locate the 64 untagged lobster traps. He also opined that as for the tips the detachment received from the public, DFO could not do all of its enforcement work without the public and other fishermen.
