'Unbound by laws': B.C. court gives man 6 years for illegal sea cucumber fishing

A British Columbia judge has sentenced a man with the longest record of Fisheries Act violations in Canadian history to six years in prison for "ravaging the ocean and flouting the law." 

Scott Steer and his co-accused corporation faced eight charges, including fishing in a closed area without a licence, selling more than $1 million worth of illegally harvested sea cucumbers and breaching an earlier order where he was forbidden from possessing fishing vessels. 

B.C. Supreme Court Justice David Crerar in Nanaimo says in his ruling that Steer has a "remarkably long record" of fisheries violations and other offences dating back more than a decade, and short stints in jail have "wholly failed to deter or rehabilitate" him.

The rulings says Steer's offences over the years include illegally harvesting crabs from Vancouver harbour, defrauding a vessel owner, breaching conditions in an intimate partner violence case and various probation violations. 

Crerar's ruling says Steer and his wife, Melissa Steer, continued their illegal fishing operations while his trial was ongoing, and his persistent "knowing and mocking flouting of the law" indicates the "unlikelihood of remorse or rehabilitation, now or in future."

The ruling says Steer believes himself "unbound by laws" and that short stints in jail as punishments are "literally a joke," and in addition to the prison term, he and his company have been fined $1.1 million "specifically to condemn the Steers' deliberate, destructive, and dishonest actions."

'Threat' to fisheries

Since 2008, there have been 15 different Fisheries and Oceans Canada files on Steer. He has been convicted multiple times for fishing illegally and has faced significant fines and jail time. 

He has been described in a previous judgment as "a threat to the health of the fishery" and "[displaying] a shocking lack of conscience and human decency."

In November 2021, a B.C. Supreme Court judge banned Steer from fishing for life, the first lifetime ban for a Pacific region fisherman in more than a decade.

The ban came after Steer was caught illegally crab fishing in the Vancouver harbour and took off in his boat, leading to a high-speed pursuit, according to court documents. 

His boat, a truck and a trailer were all seized. Officials found around 250 live crabs on board, which were later released back into the water.