A “recreational crab harvester” has been fined $7,500 in connection with a large number of crabs found three years ago during an inspection at Elgin Park Marina in South Surrey.
According to a news release issued Thursday (June 17) by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Laird Goddyn was found guilty last month in Surrey Provincial Court of violating the Fisheries Act.
In addition to imposing the fine, Justice Satinder Sidhu banned Goddyn from holding tidal and non-tidal fishing licences for five years, the release states.
READ MORE: 3 banned from fishing, holding licences after overfishing violations near Vancouver Island
And Goddyn’s vessel, which had been seized as evidence, was ordered returned to Goddyn subject to a $4,638.48 storage fee.
The investigation, the release states, involved three enforcement agencies.
Goddyn, it continues, was identified as a “harvester of interest” to DFO’s Conservation and Protection Branch in Langley following information shared by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. U.S. officers were investigating an individual for illegal crabbing activities on April 24, 2018 that potentially involved sales in Canada.
On June 30, 2018, RCMP contacted Langley fishery officers to alert them to the discovery of the over-limit crab cache at the Elgin marina.
Goddyn, the release states, was in possession of 89 crabs; the legal daily recreational possession limit is four. The crabs were measured and released alive back into the water, and Goddyn’s vessel and cellphones were seized as evidence.
The court ordered that the $7,500 fine be used for the care and management of the fishery, the release adds.
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