Fisherman convicted of illegal lobster fishing avoids electronic monitoring

TRURO, N.S. — An attempt to force a lobster fisherman convicted of illegal fishing to undergo electronic monitoring while on the water failed in provincial court on Friday, Sept. 19.

Mark Stephen Taylor, 46, of Centreville, Hants County, was charged with fishing in the Minas Basin with 36 untagged or improperly tagged lobster traps out of a string of 43 pots.

He was found guilty of the offence during a trial in August and was sentenced to a $15,000 fine, forfeiture of his 43 traps, lines and buoys and was suspended from the first seven days of the autumn lobster season.

An attempt by federal prosecutor Rick Goodman to have Taylor’s boat equipped with electronic monitoring would have set a precedent for lobster fishermen and would have enabled Department of Fisheries and Oceans officers to track his boat’s every movement on the water, including at night or during foggy conditions.

The monitoring system, which is in force in the scallop fishery, would also have enabled officers to locate and check Taylor’s traps in his absence.

Fisheries officer Vince Smith testified that electronic monitoring would be helpful in light of understaffing in the department and, especially so in the Bay of Fundy, where high tides often hide fishermen’s buoys.

“I am not going to grant the application because there is nothing in Mr. Taylor that would suggest that he is unique and that he has to be penalized more than has been the practice in the past,” Judge John MacDougall said during the sentencing. Taylor did not have a previous conviction.

(From Transcontinental Media’s Truro Daily News)