Two people were charged with multiple violations of Canada’s Fisheries Act and fined a combined total of CAD 10,500 (USD 7,650, EUR 6,500).
Chao Jan Yu and Li Hua Chen were both convicted of multiple offenses under the Fisheries Act, according to a release by Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).
Yu was fined a total of CAD 6,500 (USD 4,740, EUR 4,000) for obstructing a fishery officer, retaining more than the daily limit of clams, and harvesting a prohibited species; Chen was fined CAD 4,000 (USD 2,900, EUR 2,480) for harvesting prohibited species and possessing illegally caught fish.
Both were also placed under a two-year fishing prohibition after the conviction, according to the DFO.
According to the DFO, the convictions stem from a July 2024 patrol in the Nanoose Bay Recreational Shellfish Reserve, an area of roughly 23 hectares in British Columbia, Canada.
“From an elevated vantage point, fishery officers observed two individuals collecting shellfish in the intertidal zone, an area closed to shellfish harvesting due to possible contamination,” the DFO said. “As the pair left the beach, they encountered the fishery officers on the railway tracks where Mr. Yu attempted to evade the officers and discarded two buckets of clams.”
DFO said the public closures like the ones ignored by Yu and Chen are established to protect public health and the sustainability of Canada’s ocean resources.
“Unauthorized harvesting puts consumers, ecosystems, legitimate harvesters, and Canada’s reputation as an exporter of safe shellfish at risk,” DFO said. “Obstructing fishery officers or failing to provide required documentation are serious offenses that can result in significant penalties.”
