Latest news with #illegalFishing
CTV News
24-06-2025
- CTV News
Man fined nearly $37K for illegal halibut fishing in Haida Gwaii, B.C.
A commercial fisherman has been fined almost $37,000 for illegal fishing in the Haida Gwaii archipelago. Stefan Grega pleaded guilty to multiple violations of the federal Fisheries Act last month, according to a news release from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. The DFO said the offences occurred during the 2022-23 commercial halibut fishery, when Grega 'illegally retained and sold fish' that he caught during a fishery closure. The specific offences to which Grega pleaded guilty are listed in online court records. They are: Two counts of purchasing, selling or possessing illegally caught fish One count of fishing during a closed time One count of catching or retaining fish from closed waters And one count of placing or setting fishing gear during a closed time All of the offences except one of the counts of possessing illegally caught fish occurred on May 4, 2022, according to court records. The remaining count happened on May 5, 2022. Grega, who was born in 1946, is the owner of the commercial fishing vessel the Pacific Sunrise, according to the DFO. The court imposed a total of $30,000 in fines – $10,000 for the placing or setting fishing gear charge and $5,000 for each other count. It also ordered Grega to pay $6,989.35, representing proceeds from the illegal harvest, the DFO said. The federal department said it regulates seven distinct commercial sectors of B.C.'s groundfish fisheries, all of which are 'highly regulated and managed to conserve the stocks.' Commercial groundfish fisheries are 'fully monitored at sea and dockside through either electronic systems or onboard observers,' the DFO said, adding that electronic monitoring video systems, fishing logbooks, dockside monitoring and the 'Groundfish Audit System' were all 'instrumental in identifying and investigating Mr. Grega's illegal activities.' Anyone with information about contraventions of the Fisheries Act and its associated regulations should call the DFO Pacific Region's violation reporting line at 1-800-465-4336, or email the details to the department said.
Malay Mail
21-06-2025
- Malay Mail
Rare Irrawaddy dolphin dies in illegal ray net off Kuala Kedah, says MMEA
ALOR SETAR, June 21 — A rare Irrawaddy dolphin was found dead, tragically entangled in an illegal ray fishing net known locally as 'pukat pari' that was left behind by fishermen in the waters off Kuala Kedah yesterday. Kuala Kedah Maritime Zone director commander Noor Azreyanti Ishak said the dolphin, an endangered marine mammal, was found by a Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) patrol team at about 11 am, approximately 1.1 nautical miles from the Kuala Kedah estuary. 'The discovery was made following the seizure of a RM2,000 ray net, which is prohibited under the Fisheries Act 1985 due to its non-selective nature. The net not only traps stingrays and juvenile fish but also poses a serious threat to protected marine species,' she said in a statement today. Noor Azreyanti said the Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), also known locally as 'empesut', is a unique species that is becoming increasingly rare in Southeast Asia, including in Malaysia. She added that the loss of even a single Irrawaddy dolphin has a major impact on the ecosystem, given its critically low population and elusive nature. Meanwhile, Noor Azreyanti said the latest seizure was the sixth involving ray nets in the Kuala Kedah maritime zone so far this year. 'The use of the nets not only affects the population of stingrays, which are benthic predators, but also disrupts the overall balance of the ecosystem if left unchecked,' she said. She also called on the public to report illegal fishing activities or suspicious activities at sea via the 999 emergency line or the Kuala Kedah maritime zone operations centre at 04-7310579. — Bernama
E&E News
13-06-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
Panel told cuts would harm enforcement of illegal fishing
President Donald Trump's executive order for stronger federal action against illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is being undermined by deep staff and resource cuts at NOAA, the Coast Guard and other agencies, experts told a Senate panel Thursday. Under questioning from members of the Commerce Subcommittee on Coast Guard, Maritime and Fisheries, national security experts said the U.S. fishing economy is under siege from foreign actors who poach millions of tons of seafood annually from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico. Offenders run the gamut from small-boat pirates conducting overnight raids on red snapper off the Texas coast to geopolitical rivals' fishing fleets encroaching on U.S. fishing grounds in the North Pacific and Arctic oceans. Advertisement In an exchange with subcommittee ranking member Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Whitley Saumweber, director of the Stephenson Ocean Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, warned that countering IUU in U.S. waters and maintaining international order among competing countries cannot succeed without NOAA.
Reuters
12-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Australia to boost aerial surveillance of Pacific for illegal fishing fleets
SYDNEY, June 12 (Reuters) - Australia plans to significantly boost surveillance of Pacific Islands territorial waters, spending A$477 million ($310.72 million) on aerial patrols for illegal fishing fleets, tender documents viewed by Reuters show, as China takes steps towards sending its coast guard to the region. Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit Fiji on Friday, the Fiji Times newspaper reported, after the government of Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka last week approved a maritime security agreement that will see Australia fund a patrol boat for Fiji. Australia will operate commercial aerial patrols to support Pacific Island countries monitoring exclusive economic zones which span millions of kilometres of ocean. Efforts to tackle illegal fishing also led to a new monitoring centre being opened in Fiji in April. Australia's defence department declined to comment on the aerial tender, and Pacific Minister Pat Conroy did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters reported last week that China's coast guard is taking further steps towards high seas boarding of fishing boats in the Pacific for the first time, risking tensions with Taiwanese fleets that also ply the region. The Chinese Coast Guard demonstrated the capabilities of one of its largest ships, used to enforce maritime law in the Taiwan Strait, to 10 Pacific Island ministers, including Fiji's, in China a fortnight ago. China has registered 26 coast guard vessels for Pacific Ocean patrols with the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission, although it is yet to conduct an inspection, WCPFC officials said. China declined to comment. Australia has gifted two dozen patrol boats to Pacific Island nations, and operates navy and air force patrols for illegal fishing in the region several times a year. Sangaa Clark, chief executive of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement, representing nine Pacific Island countries controlling the world's largest tuna fishery, said the group has not invited China to conduct coast guard patrols, and instead relied on Australian-funded surveillance and patrols by Australia, New Zealand, France and the United States. Pacific security expert Peter Connolly, a fellow at the University of New South Wales, said Chinese Coast Guard patrols in the region would "introduce geostrategic tensions to the policing of the Pacific's fisheries". "This is particularly likely because the two most common nationalities of illegal fishermen in the Pacific have been from the PRC and from Taiwan," he said, referring to the People's Republic of China. ($1 = 1.5352 Australian dollars)
CTV News
11-06-2025
- CTV News
2 men found guilty of illegal prawn fishing in B.C., fined more than $40K total
Spot prawns are seen in this undated image. (Shutterstock) Two men have been fined a combined total of more than $40,000 over illegal prawn fishing they engaged in during the 2022 B.C. spot prawn season. Scott Castle and Terry Lorenz were each recently found guilty in Nanaimo provincial court, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said in a news release Wednesday. In late April, the court found Castle guilty of 'remotely directing' Lorenz to illegally fish in a closed area of Stuart Channel near Ladysmith 'over several days,' according to the DFO. He was also convicted of illegally selling the prawns harvested from the closed area and not completing his 'fish slips,' which were required under the conditions of his licence. On May 15, Lorenz was found guilty of the same offences, the DFO said. According to the department, the case stems from a report it received on May 30, 2022, regarding 'a vessel fishing during a commercial prawn fishery closure in several sub-areas off the south coast of Vancouver Island.' 'Fishing in a closed area depletes the population of female prawns needed for reproduction,' the DFO release reads. 'Retaining undersize prawns prevents smaller males from mating and reaching maturity.' Castle was fined $30,000 for his offences, plus an additional $8,228, representing the proceeds of his sale of the illegally harvested prawns. Lorenz, who is described throughout the DFO release as the 'vessel master,' received a $3,000 fine and was banned from fishing for five years. The DFO asks anyone with information about violations of the federal Fisheries Act and its associated regulations to contact its toll-free reporting line at 800-465-4336 or to email
