Illegal prawn traps in B.C. glass-sponge refuge net $250K fine

The captain of a commercial fishing vessel has beenfined$250,000by a provincial court judge and ordered to forfeit $80,000 worth of equipment after being caught setting prawn traps in a glass sponge marine refuge near Sechelt, B.C.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) says the unnamed vessel master received the sentence on Jan. 31, resulting in the forfeiture of 553 commercial prawn traps and more than 200kilogramsof live prawns.

Fisheries officers seized the prawn traps in the Strait of Georgia in July 2020 in the protected area, which is closed to all prawn fishing due to the highly sensitive nature of glass sponges.

Sechelt is located on B.C.'s Sunshine Coastaround 50 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.

The department saidin a news release that the vessel master violated a number of other conditions of his commercial fishing licence between July and September 2020, resulting in themanbeing found guilty of 13 Fisheries Act violations last May.

The DFOsays the reefs are a "globally unique ecosystem" providing habitat to spot prawns, rockfish, herring, halibut and sharks, and the glass sponges are extremely fragile due to their skeletons consisting of almost pure glass.