RICHMOND (BC) - Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced today that the vice president of a seafood and processor association has been fined a total of $10,000 for contravening the Fisheries Act. 

In 1999, Hung Shek Wong (Paddy Wong), Vice President of Western Canada Seafood Merchants and Processors Association, purchased approximately 6,000 pounds of sablefish from Michael Morrison (a Masset resident) and Stanley McNeill (a Skidegate resident).  Neither Mr. Morrison nor Mr. McNeill had the appropriate licence required to sell sablefish.  Mr. Wong divided the sablefish into 50 pound boxes and sold the fish to restaurants, friends and markets in the Lower Mainland. 

Recently, in Richmond provincial court, Mr. Wong pleaded guilty to four of the 11 charges.  He pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawfully purchasing and possessing sablefish and to two counts of unlawfully selling sablefish.  He received a $2,500 fine for each count.  Of the total $10,000 fine, $9,600 will be used by the Department to either promote the proper management and control of the sablefish/halibut/rockfish fishery or for the conservation and protection of the sablefish/halibut/rockfish fishery.  The remaining charges were stayed. 

In April 2002, Mr. McNeill pleaded guilty in Prince Rupert provincial court for harvesting and selling sablefish without a proper licence and received a $10,000 fine.  In December 2001, Mr. Morrison was found guilty in Prince Rupert provincial court for the illegal sale of sablefish, however sentencing has not yet been completed at this time.  

Pacific sablefish is one of the most valuable commercial fish species in the North Pacific.  There are only 48 commercial fishing licences for sablefish, of which only 27 vessels fish.  Approximately 80 per cent of the Canadian sablefish is sold to Japanese markets, with the majority of the remainder being sold in Hong Kong and throughout North America. 

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is extremely concerned with illegal activity and asks for assistance from the general public for information on activities of this nature or any contravention of the Fisheries Act. To report violations please call the 24-hour, toll-free Observe, Record and Report line at 1-800-465-4336.  

Contact:

Bryan Jubinville
Detachment Supervisor, Conservation & Protection
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Pacific Region
(250) 754-0221