Commercial crab fisherman fined $20K for harvest in contaminated zone
Danny My Ho of Burnaby, B.C., was harvesting Dungeness crab in an area closed for dioxin contamination
A haul of crab last summer off the Sunshine Coast has netted a Burnaby man a $20,000 fine, for harvesting Dungeness crab from an area closed due to dioxin contamination.
Burnaby resident Danny My Ho, skipper of the vessel New Star, has pleaded guilty to four violations of the Fisheries Act, according to a release from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
The vessel's electronic monitoring data and logbook revealed that Ho had been harvesting crab between August 15 and 26, 2015, inside an area near Roberts Creek that was closed due to dioxin contamination.
"The harvest and sale of crab from a dioxin closure area poses substantial health risks to consumers," as well as hurting consumer confidence in the fishery, the DFO said in a release.
Dioxins are highly toxic and cause reproductive and developmental problems, as well as some types of cancer, according to the World Health Organization. They persist in the environment and accumulate in the food chain.
Historically, pulp mills and other industrial activities have been large sources of dioxins in B.C.'s marine environment.