Fisherman fined, banned from groundfishing for 10 years

A Shelburne County, N.S. fisherman has received hefty fines and penalties for several violations during a sentencing in which the judge said the man’s actions were like “a child throwing a temper tantrum.”

Thirty-six-year-old Gary Lee Nickerson of South Side was fined $4,750 after pleading guilty to eight counts under the Fisheries Act and two under the Criminal Code.

He is also forbidded from setting foot on any groundfish boat for the next 10 years and had to forfeit catches worth about $30,000. He will also be on probation for one year.

The offences resulting in the charges before the court take place from August to October last year. The charges included fishing in an area where he was not licensed to, failure to hail proper weights, failing to keep a proper log, giving false statements, assaulting a fishery officer and resisting arrest.

Nickerson is the captain of the 11-metre fishing vessel Brittany & Samantha. While being sentenced in Barrington provincial court the judge was told last Oct. 4 two fishery officers were present at the wharf to seize Nickerson’s mixed groundfish catch.

Nickerson wasn’t pleased as the fish was being offloaded but his behavior that followed, the judge said, was hardly what one would expect from a grown man, particularly when he started throwing his fish into the water.

Nickerson also scuffled with fisheries officers, which resulted in him falling, hitting his head and sustaining a concussion. He even, at one point, ended up being shoved into a fish bin.

The court also heard about how Nickerson – who was described by his lawyer as a hard worker – jumped off the wharf into the water after climbing up the ladder during low tide with the fishery officers in tow. His lawyer said the fisherman was in a rage and jumped into the water to cool off.

Although he won’t be allowed to work in the groundfish industry for a decade, he is still permitted to lobster fish.