‘It’s definitely precedent setting:’ commercial prawn operator fined $250K
NANAIMO — Prawning in an environmentally sensitive area off the lower Sunshine Coast resulted in a heavy fine and fishing gear seizure against a Delta man.
A recent provincial court sentencing hearing in Sechelt followed the conviction of 13 violations under Canada’s Fisheries Act against Dean Keitsch in connection to incidents in July 2020 off the coastal community on board his vessel Dark Star.
Fisheries officers retrieved more than 550 prawn traps set at the bottom of the Strait of Georgia Glass Sponge Reef Marine Refuge, which is closed to all forms of bottom fishing.
“Its’ very, very sensitive to any human disturbance, particularly setting heavy traps on it. As you put those trips on it, it squishes it, as you pull the traps out, you drag it along the bottom,” Bill van Egteren, fishery officer and primary investigator told NanaimoNewsNOW.