Fishing company, captain fined for violations

[Spiel]

Fishing company, captain fined for violations

 

 

Friday January 16, 2009

Leamington Post

 

 

A Lake Erie commercial fishing boat captain has been fined $4,500 and a Wheatley commercial fishing company fined $2,000 for commercial fishing violations.

 

Pisces Fishery Incorporated of Wheatley is the owner of a commercial fishing licence. Jose Pacheco, 55, also of Wheatley, is the captain of the commercial fishing vessel ADCO II.

 

In a Windsor court this week Pacheco and the company pleaded guilty to seven counts each of violating the terms and conditions of a commercial fishing licence. The charges stem from three separate incidents.

 

An investigation by Ministry of Natural Resources officers found that between Jan. 6 and Feb. 23, 2007, and March 12 and March 18, 2008, Pacheco falsified his daily catch reports by recording incorrect information about where and for how long he set his gill nets.

 

The conditions of Lake Erie commercial fishing licences require gill net users between January 1 and March 15 to have a working GPS unit on board their vessel. Ministry of Natural Resources enforcement staff are able to access readings from these units. The readings from the GPS unit on the ADCO II proved that the catch reports were false.

 

On April 14 last year, conservation officers conducted an inspection of the ADCO II and discovered that Pacheco had not declared 150 kilograms of yellow perch he had caught