Followup on Bill 11

[Don Andersen]

Folks,

A followup on the fines and reasoning for Bill 11.

Don




Bill 11, Fisheries (Alberta) Amendment Act, 2009

What is the purpose of the amendments?
The Act currently limits the courts’ ability to impose penalties other than fines and short licence suspensions. The public expects tougher penalties for violations that damage a fishery, and that offenders are held responsible for returning a fishery they have damaged back to a healthy state. The amendments will:
· provide stronger protection for our fish resources and more effective deterrents against lawbreaking; and
· ensure that Albertans continue to benefit from the effort and investments made in our fisheries resources by government, fisheries groups, industry and the public.
What are the proposed amendments?
The proposed amendments will give the provincial courts a wider variety of sentencing options (creative sentencing) to penalize those who contravene the Act. Creative sentencing options will include:
· assessing a fishery’s restoration costs to convicted persons;
· issuing orders to stop new offences;
· suspending or cancelling licences;
· assessing additional monetary payments to support fisheries management and habitat enhancement programs; and
· ordering fisheries restoration actions.

Is creative sentencing used to enforce any other acts?
Yes. For many years, the courts have been successfully using creative sentencing under the Wildlife Act and the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act to deal with serious offenders. For example, through creative sentencing, offenders have been ordered to report their subsequent hunting activities or make payments to the Minister’s programs for wildlife conservation. The amendments to the Fisheries (Alberta) Act will follow existing creative sentencing models.
What would be an example of creative sentencing under the Act?
Ongoing court proceedings involve numerous serious Fisheries (Alberta) Act violations resulting from a successful undercover operation in the Lac La Biche and Athabasca areas. There have been 10 accused persons convicted as a result of this investigation, who have been fined a total of $140,000. If creative sentencing were available, a portion of that amount could be assessed in the form of an order for payment to support fisheries management programs. In addition, orders could be issued to the convicted persons requiring that they report future fishing activities.
What is the rationale behind assessing a fishery’s restoration costs to convicted persons?
Fines from convictions, which are directed to the General Revenue Fund, are not adequate to cover the cost of restoring lost fisheries, and all of the cost is currently being borne by the government and fishery stakeholder groups. Estimates to restore trout fisheries affected by the illegal stocking of perch have ranged from $100,000 to $500,000 depending on the size and complexity of the water body. Creative sentencing would introduce an option to order an offender to pay the full cost to re-create the stocked fishery as it was prior to the illegal fish introduction.
February 18, 2009

[deanmc]

Glad to see this It is great in theory. I dont believe it will ever be used. Sounds like the cost to investigate and prosecute would eat up most of the money anyway.

The laws we have are being ignored by many because there are not enough officers to enforce them. People laugh at the rules we have now because their chances of coming across a C.O. are slim to none.

[packhuntr]

Thats why its up to all of us to help out. We are out and about year round doing our outdoor activities. If folks left the mentality of not wanting to rock the boat at home when they went outdoors, the Report a Poacher hotline would probuably be so busy you couldnt get through.

[italk2u]

Obviously you're right pack, but if we all called and got through, there wouldn't be enough CO's around to investigate anyway.
The bottom line remains.. enforcement, enforcement, enforcement, and the C.O.'S to do it.
It seems to me these amendments are aimed more at corporate poachers than the average bad guy/gal who could care less about the fishery and only his/her self.
You're not going to get the money needed to restore a fishery from these people, because they don't have it.
The only logical deterrent is jail time, community service and confiscation of whatever they used in the commiting of the crime, i.e. vehicle, etc.
Only in that way can we send a message to these people that they can't get away with what they're doing on our watch, anymore.

[Okotokian]

Don, just so we understand the source of this discussion, what is your relationship to the Alberta government? You seem to be posting things here as if you work for SRD's public affairs group. How have you obtained these Q&A's? Thanks.

[keeks]

Don is a very concerned and proactive fisherman. All those meetings we hear about, the ones about helping our fisheries, helping draft new legislation, assisting in stream rehabilitation, fish rescues, streamwatch, and the list goes on............you know the ones...............Don is at those. And after the meetings he is on the net, keeping us informed. You know......................us..................the guys that preach about what should be done, but do nothing!! Don is the opposite of that. He attends meetings from GP to the Crow, and everywhere in between.

And he does this at his own expense of time and money. But he does have an agenda.
His agenda..................The Fishery.

When people look back in the history of Alberta fishing. Don Anderson will be one of the names listed under, "He Actually Did Something".

And I posted this, just because Don is not likely to toot his own horn on here.

k

[deanmc]

Originally Posted by keeks

Don is a very concerned and proactive fisherman. All those meetings we hear about, the ones about helping our fisheries, helping draft new legislation, assisting in stream rehabilitation, fish rescues, streamwatch, and the list goes on............you know the ones...............Don is at those. And after the meetings he is on the net, keeping us informed. You know......................us..................the guys that preach about what should be done, but do nothing!! Don is the opposite of that. He attends meetings from GP to the Crow, and everywhere in between.

And he does this at his own expense of time and money. But he does have an agenda.
His agenda..................The Fishery.

When people look back in the history of Alberta fishing. Don Anderson will be one of the names listed under, "He Actually Did Something".

And I posted this, just because Don is not likely to toot his own horn on here.

k

In that case my hats off to Don. We need more people like that.