A Richmond seafood factory and commercial fisherman have been slapped with $110,000 in fines after attempting to hide evidence during a routine inspection.
Co-owner Desi Liu of Tenshi Seafood went as far as to eat a receipt during a routine inspection by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the agency said in a statement Tuesday (April 13).
Not only that but also on Sept. 8, 2018, DFO officers witnessed an unidentified man run from the processing plant into a car with “what looked like a crab crate in the back.”
An officer who went inside the facility was ignored by an owner and staff members, who “obstructed the fishery officer from conducting an inspection,” stated the DFO.
Several undersized crabs were also found discarded inside the building, it added, to which no necessary paperwork was provided.
READ MORE: DFO investigates alleged illegal dump of herring in Deep Bay (VIDEO)
A receipt from the company’s most recent sale – also requested at the time by a DFO officer – was then ingested and destroyed by Liu.
Tenshi Seafood Ltd. and Liu were found guilty of violating the Fisheries Act in a Richmond Provincial Court on March 4.
The company was fined $75,000. Liu was ordered to pay $25,000.
As part of the ruling, the company was also ordered to publish a letter – addressed to all of its customers – setting out the facts relating to the offences it was found guilty of.
Commercial fisherman Thuong Nguyen, a supplier, was also found guilty in provincial court for charges stemming from the Sept. 2018 inspection.
Nguyen was fined $10,000.
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