Commercial fishers admit to improperly transporting pickerel fillets

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This article was published 29/03/2016 (3570 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A commerical fishing family has admitted to improperly transporting pickerel fillets to a Winnipeg restaurant after being hooked in an undercover sting operation at The Forks.

Edna Govereau and her 35-year-old son, Shaun Govereau, pleaded guilty last week to the charge of transporting fish without a proper load slip under the Fisheries Act following their 2014 arrest. They were given more than $1,400 in combined fines under a joint-recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers.

The two, who are from Fisher River, were caught delivering more than 326 kilograms of pickerel fillets to Fergies Fish ‘N Chips & Seafood Market. Members of Manitoba Conservation had been tipped off and were hidden inside and outside the popular eatery when the accused arrived in separate trucks carrying 284 packages of “what otherwise would have been delicious pickerel,” Crown attorney Tim Chudy told court.

They would be required to sell their fish through the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp., or through a special dealer permit issued by the FFMC that allows them to sell to restaurant and retail/wholesale outlets that have been licensed by the FFMC provided they don’t exceed a quota. No such licence was obtained.

“As commercial fishers, when you are taking the resources off the land, you have an obligation to make sure that you’re following all the laws so we don’t come to a situation where we can no longer fish,” provincial court Judge Lee Ann Martin told the accused during the sentencing hearing. “There’s only so much to go around. You’ve all heard about the pollution to our lakes.”

Defence lawyer Don Mokriy said the accused have been fishing on Lake Winnipeg “for years and years” but have run into some difficult times lately including serious medical issues. Shaun Govereau has previously been convicted of similar offences, while his mother had no prior record, court was told.

“There’s been some emotional anguish on a personal level,” said Mokriy.

All of the seized fillets were donated to a local charity.

“The Govereaus didn’t profit here from the sale of the fish,” Chudy told court. “The fabulous pickerel didn’t go to waste.”

Officials originally laid similar charges against Gus Tsouras, the owner of Fergies, but those were ultimately stayed by the Crown last year. Tsouras always denied wrongdoing, telling the Free Press at the time of the seizure that he only buys pickerel fillets from approved, licensed commercial fishers.

Officials say if a fisher, when intercepted, does not have the proper documentation for the fish in their possession, it likely means they are not claiming it against their quota. At the same time, the buyer is supposed to get a receipt that they received the fish.

“This is just a means of trying to maintain the sustainability of the fisheries,” Conservation director of operations Blair McTavish previously told the Free Press. “It is a form of poaching sometimes under guise of a commercial fishing licence. We’re just trying to make sure it doesn’t get out of hand.”

These types of arrests are rare. However, a 72-year-old barber was fined $2,600 for selling black-market pickerel out of his Jefferson Avenue business in 2013.

www.mikeoncrime.com