N.S. fisherman gets stiff fine for fake licence

By Greg Bennett

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

A previously unheard of fishing violation has landed a Shelburne County, N.S. fisherman fines and penalties totaling $17,000.

On Wednesday Jan. 16, in Shelburne provincial court Joey Oickle was fined for leasing the use of a fake lobster licence to a fellow fisherman.

After an investigation in April 2007 by Fisheries and Oceans, it was discovered that Oickle created, with the help of a computer, a forged LFA 33 lobster licence.

Oickle had leased the forged licence to a local fisherman for $5,000. He also kept his normal job while the other fisherman fished the licence and paid Oickle 20 percent of the total worth of the catch.

The fraud came to the attention of Fisheries and Oceans after a routine check of a lobster licence by Shelburne DFO officers in April.

Three days later 10 officers searched Oickle’s residence, seizing documents and a computer.

Oickle was charged with fraud under section 380(1) of the Criminal Code, fishing with a licence without being named in the licence under section 13(1)(c) of the Atlantic Fishery Regulations and fishing without a personal fisher’s registration 14(1)(a) of the Atlantic Fisheries Regulations.

He pled guilty to all three charges and was sentenced to fines of $8,150 and ordered to pay back $8,850 in proceeds from his crime.