Tag Archives: Scott Steer
The hunt for B.C.’s most notorious fisherman
Every year, officers in the DFO’s Pacific region collar a handful of serious rulebreakers, some more brazen than others. Scott Steer is in a class of his own, the most prolific poacher on the West Coast. He’s been busted for illegally catching just about every type of fish in the north Pacific: halibut, ling cod, sablefish, crab, prawns and more, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of quality catch over the years. He has been fined repeatedly, and when that didn’t work, the courts began throwing him in jail, while simultaneously slapping him with an escalating series of fishing prohibitions. When Sanderson’s crew nabbed him that night in Vancouver, Steer was already banned from so much as setting foot in a fishing boat until 2038. Big story, >click to read< 08:03
Crab poaching under cover of darkness earns 10-year commercial fishing ban, vessel seizure
A Cape Mudge resident involved in poaching dungeness crabs in Vancouver Harbour under the cover of darkness in February 2019 is banned from fishing commercially for 10 years and had the boat he was using – which didn’t belong to him – and all the crabbing gear in it forfeited to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. Arthur Michael Nelson pleaded guilty to fishing for shellfish in a closed time, fishing without a licence and obstructing a fishery officer and was sentenced in Campbell River Provincial Court Thursday. >click to read<18:43
Nanaimo fisherman sentenced to another 45 days in jail for repeat fishing violations
A man previously convicted for selling up to $100,000 in illegally-acquired crab and halibut has been given another jail term. Scott Steer, a fisherman based out of Nanaimo, was found guilty last month on eight charges of breaching his Fisheries Act prohibition order. As a result, he has been sentenced to an additional 45 days in jail, along with forfeiting his crab fishing gear and a vessel, the HOLLY V. In May, Steer was sentenced to 21 days after his arrest in April for “failing to comply with a court order banning him from being on any vessel other than BC Ferries.” Steer is now prohibited from applying for a new fishing lease, being onboard any fishing vessel, or having any fishing gear for 12 years. Link 09:25
Repeat illegal fishing offences land B.C. Fisherman in jail — again
A commercial fisherman who sold up to $100,000 in illegally-acquired crab and halibut has been given a rare sentence of 21 days in jail for breaching his probation conditions. Fisheries and Oceans Canada says Scott Steer was arrested at sea on April 10 for “failing to comply with a court order banning him from being on any vessel other than BC Ferries.” Jim Robson, the department’s acting area chief for the South Coast, said Steer was apprehended at sea with the help of members of the Canadian Coast Guard while he was en route to crab fishing grounds. He said Steer has a “considerable list of violations.” The DFO said this is Steer’s third jail term and that he was previously sentenced for various violations of “high volume, commercial quantities” of unauthorized crab and fish sales, each of them worth thousands of dollars. Read the story here 15:48
