Fishing boat owners fined for illegal tuna catch off Vancouver Island

The owners of a commercial fishing boat have been fined $6,000 after the vessel was caught with more than 30,000 pounds of illegally caught tuna off Vancouver Island last summer.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada says the vessel Ocean Provider was boarded by officers approximately 42 nautical miles off Barkley Sound, near Bamfield.
The fisheries officers were conducting a routine inspection when they discovered 2,250 albacore tuna – totalling approximately 14,495 kilograms – on board.
The vessel was escorted back to port by fisheries officers on the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Tanu.
The tuna, which the agency valued at $127,824, had been harvested despite the crew not being licensed to fish for tuna, the DFO said in a statement Wednesday.
The catch was seized and the vessel's owners pleaded guilty in court to fishing for albacore tuna without a licence between July 22 and Aug. 15, 2022.
A Port Alberni provincial court judge fined the owners on June 28 and upheld the seizure and forfeiture of the tuna.
The DFO asks anyone with information about illegal fishing in B.C. to call the agency's Pacific region reporting line 1-800-465-4336, or email details to DFO.ORR-ONS.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Trump says he won't testify Monday at his New York fraud trial and sees no need to appear again
Donald Trump said Sunday he has decided against testifying for a second time at his New York civil fraud trial, posting on social media that he "VERY SUCCESSFULLY & CONCLUSIVELY" testified last month and saw no need to appear again.
Buckingham Palace releases this year’s Christmas card
Buckingham Palace released an image of the Christmas card that King Charles III and Queen Camilla will be sending out this year.
Catholic priest in small Nebraska community dies after being attacked in church
A Catholic priest in a small Nebraska community died Sunday after being attacked in a church rectory, authorities said.
Saskatchewan is a safe space to buy 'sustainable oil,' Scott Moe says
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is working hard to use a global climate change conference as an opportunity to market the province’s non-renewable resources.
Al Gore calls UAE hosting COP28 'ridiculous,' slams oil CEO appointed to lead climate talks
Climate advocate and former Vice President Al Gore on Sunday called into question the decision to hold the COP28 climate talks in the United Arab Emirates, a leading producer of the world’s oil.
'No one else has done this on the planet': Guilbeault insists emissions cap delay is due to novelty
Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault says the delay in announcing details of his government’s proposed oil and gas sector emissions cap is due to its uniqueness and to wanting to get it right.
'People are confused': Survey suggests Canadians need education on Charter rights
While one-third of Canadians say they have read the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, many fail to distinguish between its text and that of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, a new survey suggests.
Canada has a secretive history of adoption, and some want it brought to light
In a theatre in St. John's, N.L., a murmur spreads through the audience as people timidly raise their hands. They have been asked if they saw their own stories reflected in the film they just watched -- 'A Quiet Girl.'
In inaugural speech, Argentina's Javier Milei prepares nation for painful shock adjustment
It wasn't the most uplifting of inaugural addresses. Rather, Argentina's newly empowered President Javier Milei presented figures to lay bare the scope of the nation's economic 'emergency,' and sought to prepare the public for a shock adjustment with drastic public spending cuts.