Fishing Charges?!?! anyone have any experience?!

[joeboo]

I'm a Canadian citizen, as far as i'm concerned, those fish belong to me too.
If i'm starving and i need to take a fish to eat, i shouldn't need a licence to do so.
There's a difference between personal use, sport fishing and fishing for profit.

I'm pretty sure wildlife doesn't belong to anyone. Which is possibly the reason these laws exist...

Anyways there is provisions for living off the land if you are lost in the woods etc. But from the sounds of things these guys weren't living off the land.

Hope it works out for them since I don't like to see anyone get royally screwed because of ignorance. But I back wildlife conservation laws fully. Regardless of the motivations behind them.

 

[joeboo]

I was thinking about the wild salmon that I have bought at my local Longos.

What sub-species of salmon is it? Pppfh, I have no idea. And I can't tell Rainbow trout from Rainbow Smelt either. If that is ignorance, so be it... all I know is that I will eat them the same!!

That ignorance is probably the reason the ministry would rather deal with someone who is willing to learn the difference between fish IE commercial fisherman. Rather than someone who really couldn't care and just wants to eat whatever random fish comes out of the water.

 

[kruzuki]

I see well i don't think they can afford a lawyer... they're just going to go in before court on a “without prejudice basis” ask the Prosecutor what fine he or she will be seeking. If the fine is reasonable then they'll just take the hit and plead guilty..with hopes that the Prosecutor can see that they aren't poachers..

A poacher is defined as anyone who catches fish or game illegally, so they are poachers.
As stated before, ignorance is no excuse of the law.

 

[Bweixz]

Anyways end story is each person got charged with 1500 . . . woman judge "fish have feelings too you know" lmao

 

[kiwi]

Anyways end story is each person got charged with 1500 . . . woman judge "fish have feelings too you know" lmao

Thanks for the update. Nice to see a decent fine applied too.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[insert]

Don't forget, there will be two costly court dates, and thousands of dollars in resources spent to prosecute these evil offenders!
Instead, they could have educated the stupid students about their illegal "fun" activity on site and saved the taxpayer a fortune.
Sure, give them a small fine to teach them a lesson and pay for the wardens time.
The fact that the wildlife officers hid in the bushes and waited for them to commit the crime is even funnier.
What ever happened to intervention as opposed to entrapment?
So i guess they don't really care about the fish afterall do they?

Again, there's a big difference between stealing fish with bad intention, knowing you are breaking the law, and some dummies wading around in the water to try their hand at something new.

The younger generation has far less life experiences, tend to be narrow minded, and if you give them a position of authority, they will exercise it as often as possible. Usually incorrectly.
I lived in Jasper National Park for 4 years, i know every old warden in that area.
They enforce the regulations there 10x more than Bowmanville river, but they also know the difference between a professional poacher and some stupid tourists.

You could stab someone in Ontario and suffer less consequences than if you got caught stunt riding with a Rainbow smelt in your bag...

What we have here is a case of poor judgement by some rookie and Totalitarian Ontario Enforcement.

Exactly. and the court will not discount these things.

An offence was committed, or so it seems. IF they are found guilty, all those considerations will be taken into account when deciding the penalty. But those considerations dont negate the fact that an offence was committed.

edit: sorry, as i do all too often, i didnt read through the thread and see that its all done.

 

[PLau]

You mentioned this incident happened at night at 11PM... Why do the tickets say 12:05PM (Afternoon)? Not like it would really matter...

 

[imnothng]

Anyways end story is each person got charged with 1500 . . . woman judge "fish have feelings too you know" lmao

Good job judge. They do have feelings and I'm glad that this discussion is motorcycle related.

 

[Rob MacLennan]

Good job judge. They do have feelings and I'm glad that this discussion is motorcycle related.

At least it's law related. Please keep your "feelings" discussions to the thread I started for you in Romper Room.

 

[imnothng]

At least it's law related. Please keep your "feelings" discussions to the thread I started for you in Romper Room.

Yup, totally motorcycle law related.

 

[Spiider]

I'm pretty sure wildlife doesn't belong to anyone. Which is possibly the reason these laws exist...

Anyways there is provisions for living off the land if you are lost in the woods etc. But from the sounds of things these guys weren't living off the land.

Hope it works out for them since I don't like to see anyone get royally screwed because of ignorance. But I back wildlife conservation laws fully. Regardless of the motivations behind them.

Actually all the natural resources belong to this nice little old british lady named Regina...even the land under your house technically belongs to her. The Crown owns EVERYTHING, so basically you are stealing from the Crown when you poach. And just a few hundred years ago you would lose your head for netting a few salmon.

 

[RockerGuy]

Illegal transportation of fish?? Please...
Some of these laws just make me barf

Sent from my tablet using my paws

 

[crankcall]

Illegal transportation of fish?? Please...
Some of these laws just make me barf

Sent from my tablet using my paws

Come on rockerguy, your a smart guy. You know there are always about 10 charges for a variety of things when there is only 1 "real" offence so clever lawyers and prosecutors have room to barter and 1 of the charges will stick. Sometimes getting the lesser charge is still a kick in the pants but better than having a car impounded for being used to illegally transport fishes.

 

[RockerGuy]

Come on rockerguy, your a smart guy. You know there are always about 10 charges for a variety of things when there is only 1 "real" offence so clever lawyers and prosecutors have room to barter and 1 of the charges will stick. Sometimes getting the lesser charge is still a kick in the pants but better than having a car impounded for being used to illegally transport fishes.

But but but... They're all bogus charges. Charge someone for pulling some fish out of the land?

Sent from my tablet using my paws

 

[Griffin]

I think anyone fishing illegally should have the book thrown at them.

I don't think some folks realize just how bad the situation is in our waters. There are serious concerns that a great many species of fish will be extinct within a decade or so. It's already too late to reverse. Then those that are "starving" and need to go illegally fishing will have to eat their nets for sustenance.

 

[Sillylion]

If said person is "starving" to that extent, there are much better means to get food. We have plenty of food shelters and food banks. Lots of social aids. There is no excuse for poaching. And like the poster above me said, most people don't know how bad our waters and fisheries are. We are actively stocking our lakes by the tens of thousands and its still not enough

 

[crankcall]

If said person is "starving" to that extent, there are much better means to get food. We have plenty of food shelters and food banks. Lots of social aids. There is no excuse for poaching. And like the poster above me said, most people don't know how bad our waters and fisheries are. We are actively stocking our lakes by the tens of thousands and its still not enough

lets face it, anybody bringing up the starvation arguement is trolling for reaction. If your actually in a starvation position your going to be so far removed from civilization that there will be no conservation officer around to charge you, and if one finds you starving in the bush he'll help you get to safety.
if your starving in a municipality, there are about a clown car full of food bank and support kitchen options.

Theres lots of people playing sillybugger in this thread.

 

[Spiider]

I think anyone fishing illegally should have the book thrown at them.

I don't think some folks realize just how bad the situation is in our waters. There are serious concerns that a great many species of fish will be extinct within a decade or so. It's already too late to reverse. Then those that are "starving" and need to go illegally fishing will have to eat their nets for sustenance.

^+1 Well said. People really do not realize what it was like to fish as a kid in the 70's vs the same spots now...the fish are simply gone.
And that is just our inland lakes and waterways, globally the problem is staggering.

Let me google that for you.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=the+decline+of+fish

 

[AGAVE]

Has everyone forgotten about this guy allready? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snakehead_(fish)

If everyone we know went fishing illegally daily, it wouldn't be 1/10 as much of a threat as this dirty asian fish.
The laws weren't made because people were fishing with their kids, it was for the criminals that invade our waters and take advantage of our resources for profit.

 

[macrider]

Where I live almost all of the illegal poaching, fishing without a licence, possession of fish over the limit is all done mostly by Asians.

I am not sure why? is the Ministry fishing laws and regulation handbook also written in Chinese, or Korean or what ever?
Perhaps they have a good excuse for not knowing the law if they can not read english?