For fishing illegally, Cody Matthew Florence of Pitt Meadows was fined $4,000, forfeits a gill net that was seized, and is prohibited from fishing for a year.
However, the boat that was seized by Department of Fisheries and Oceans was ordered returned to Florence by Judge Wilson Lee in Port Coquitlam Provincial Court, in a judgment on Nov. 22.
Florence was in a boat on the Fraser River near Maple Ridge on Aug. 9, 2022, using a gill net to catch sockeye salmon at a time when fishing was not permitted.
An eyewitness took photographs of him fishing, and reported the incident to the Department of Fisheries. They brought charges against Florence under the Fisheries Act.
On Oct. 25 this year, he was convicted of unlawfully setting fishing gear in the water, fishing without a licence, and unlawfully possessing fish.
The Crown prosecutor asked that Florence forfeit his boat and gill net, which had been seized, face a three-year fishing prohibition, and get a $2,000 fine.
The Crown noted Florence had two prior Fisheries Act convictions. In 2005 he was selling fish not caught by a commercial licence, and was sentenced to eight days in jail, one year of probation, and a one-year fishing suspension. Then in 2010, he was fined $1,100 for fishing and possessing fish contrary to regulations, and operating his vessel without proper protective equipment.
In sentencing, the judge noted that the prior convictions were "dated." Even though the Department of Fisheries Officers were familiar with Florence, their familiarity is not reflected in a record of ongoing or recent illegal fishing, he said.
Lee determined a $4,000 fine would have the required punitive and deterrent effect.
With Florence’s dated record, and the amount of the fine imposed, the added forfeiture of the vessel would be unduly harsh and excessive, said the judge.
