Two shellfish harvesters working the coastline of Baynes Sound have been slapped with hefty fines and fishing bans.
A provincial court judge in Courtenay last month found Richmond resident Diosa Delacruz guilty of retaining more than the daily quota for clams and oysters and for fishing without a B.C. tidal waters licence.
She was fined $5,000 and banned from fishing for one year.
Her companion, Nanaimo resident Rosemarie Allam, was found guilty in a court appearance in August of daily quota violations, and for failing to comply with her conditions of licence. She was fined $4,500 and received a two-year fishing ban.
On May 25, Delacruz and Allam were found to have harvested and retained 262 manila clams and 151 oysters — with 222 of the clams under the legal size. The maximum number of manila clams that can be retained daily is 60, and 12 for oysters.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada said the pair were charged after an inspection by fishery officers in the Baynes Sound Recreational Shellfish Harvest Reserve.
The 14-hectare area between Buckley Bay and Union Bay is a designated section of Crown Land where commercial shellfish harvesting has been excluded or limited to support recreational harvesting.
DFO said the area is easily accessible from the Island Highway at low tide and is often the site of illegal harvesting and over-retention.
In another decision in provincial court in Courtenay last month, an Ontario man vacationing on the Island was fined $5,500 for retaining 300 more oysters than allowed at Buckley Bay.
Raul Dumelod of Scarborough, Ont. was caught with three large buckets of oysters, one in hand and two more in his van, last August. Fishery officers also found he did not have a valid tidal waters licence.
“It is everyone’s responsibility to know the rules before they engage in any fishing activities, and to play their part in ensuring that B.C.’s shellfish populations and their habitats are protected and sustained,” Fisheries and Oceans Canada said in a statement.
The minimum size limit of 35 millimetres for littleneck and Manila clams in recreational fishery ensures the clams will spawn at least once before they reach a legal size limit, said the statement.
“Harvesting undersized clams threatens conservation as it impacts their ability to re-populate the beach, creating an unsustainable fishery that could result in management changes or fisheries closures.”
DFO said anyone with information on illegal fishers can call its Pacific region reporting line at 1-800-465-4336.
