HAPPY VALLEY-GOOSE BAY, NL – An extensive investigation by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), has led to $500,000 in fines for misreporting of crab catch and landings.
On September 30, 2009, in Supreme Court at Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador Sea Products was fined $275,000 for misreporting crab landings. Phillip Hillyard, a director with Labrador Sea Products, was fined $50,000 and Barry Hatch, a plant manager with Quinlan Brothers Limited, was fined $50,000, both for misreporting crab. Fish harvester Randy Noonan was also fined $25,000 for misreporting his crab catch.
This investigation by DFO resulted in earlier convictions in Provincial Court in St. John's of four fish harvesters. Dennis McCarthy, Max Whalen, Carl Hopkins, and Maurice Noonan were each fined $25,000.
On November 1, 2003 fishery officers conducted a routine inspection of Labrador Sea Products in Black Tickle, Labrador. The inspection uncovered evidence indicating misreporting of crab and led to the execution of search warrants on June 14, 2004, on the Quinlan Brothers Limited fish plant and offices in Bay de Verde, Quinlan Brothers head office in St. John's and Labrador Sea Products in Black Tickle.
Fishery officers analyzed over 25,000 documents and found discrepancies between the documents and the amount of crab reported to DFO from 1999 to 2003. The investigation determined Labrador Sea Products was submitting falsified reports in the form of purchase slips that did not include the correct weight, catch value or price. Further review showed the falsified reports had under reported the amount of snow crab landed at Black Tickle by 105,155 pounds. A dockside observer was convicted in 2006 of providing false information to DFO in relation to the Labrador Sea Products matter. The dockside observer was fined $7000.
A further investigation into landings at the Quinlan Brothers Limited plant in Bay de Verde determined that 218,700 pounds of crab was landed but went unreported in 1999. It was determined that the crab was underreported in fish harvesters' logbooks and offloaded in such a manner as to avoid monitoring by dockside observers.
The crab fishery is based on individual quotas and requires fish harvesters to be licenced by DFO. The conditions of the license require a harvester to maintain logbooks detailing fishing activity and to have crab offloadings monitored by a dockside observer. Individuals involved in this investigation underreported the amounts of crab caught in their logbooks and their catch was offloaded in such a manner as to avoid accurate dockside monitoring.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada considers misreporting of catch a serious offence and routinely conducts inspections of fish processing operations and fishing vessels. Accurate reporting of catches is essential for the management and conservation of species such as snow crab.
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For more information:
Sam Whiffen, Communications Officer
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
(709) 772-7631
