B.C. community fishery contests DFO's seizure of local fisherman's sizeable catch
A B.C. community fishery is protesting a Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) raid last Friday that seized approximately 680 kilograms of processed halibut and lingcod provided by a fisherman the federal agency says was not licensed.
The DFO says fishery officers executed two search warrants at Skipper Otto's Community Fishery Ltd. and a cold storage facility.
"As this is an active investigation into potential violations of the Fisheries Act, it would not be appropriate to comment further at this time," the DFO said in a statement to CBC.
Skipper Otto, a community-supported fishery in Vancouver, claims the DFO seizure is unjust. Sonia Strobel, its CEO, is backing the fisherman who says the processing of his licence was delayed due to a backlog from the recent PSAC strike.
"Out of nowhere, these conservation and protection officers just showed up at our operations at the Fisherman's Wharf and proceeded to go through every box in the freezer and every filing cabinet," said Strobel, saying the ordeal was distressing for staff.
The fisherman, Doug Kostering, is from the Namgis First Nation. He says he sent in his paperwork by the end of April and proceeded to fish in May. He says he has a letter confirming receipt of his paperwork.
"If there was a problem, why didn't they say anything?" said Kostering. "I think it's a big overreaction."
"This is an administrative error, and [the DFO could've] resolved this paperwork instead of this enormous overreaction and taxpayer dollars sending all these people to search all our facilities," said Strobel, echoing Kostering.
Strobel says the DFO seized about $20,000 worth of fish and $1,000 more in processed product. She says they already paid to have it processed and ready to send to customers and calls the seizure a "government-induced error."
"You know the government wasn't able to provide a timely service on issuing the licence that they normally do. They didn't notify anyone ahead of time.
"It's clear no one here is trying to poach fish or do something illegal, so this is a gross overreach."
CBC has contacted the Namgis First Nation, which manages fishing licences for its members.
Strobel says Skipper Otto has asked the DFO to notify it if the seized fish goes up for auction so it can buy it back.
