B.C. shellfish harvesters fined more than $10K for illegal catch, obstruction

Officers seized more than 500 Manila and littleneck clams, and roughly 20 horse clams and other species that were not open to harvesting, the DFO said.

Two people were fined a combined $10,500 and are banned from fishing for two years after they were found guilty of several violations on the federal Fisheries Act.

The pair were convicted in Nanaimo provincial court on Jan. 22, prompting Fisheries and Oceans Canada to publish details about the case—and about the dangers of illegal clam fishing—on Tuesday.

According to a statement from the department, fisheries officers were on patrol in the Nanoose Bay region of Vancouver Island in July 2024.

Officers took up an “elevated vantage point” over the bay, which is a popular seasonal shell fishing area where harvesters can gather clams, cockles and oysters.

The officers watched two people collect shellfish in the bay’s intertidal zone, which the fisheries department says was closed to fishing at the time due to risks of toxic contamination.

The statement says fisheries officers confronted the illegal harvesters on the railway tracks behind the beach as they were leaving.

The department says Chao Jan Yu discarded two buckets of illegally caught clams and tried to escape the officers. Yu was caught, however, as was his accomplice, Li Hua Chen.

The officers seized more than 500 Manila and littleneck clams, and roughly 20 horse clams and other species that were not open to harvesting, the agency said.

Hu was charged and later convicted of harvesting a prohibited species, retaining more than the daily limit of 75 clams and obstructing a fisheries officer, earning a total of $6,500 in fines.

Chen was similarly fined $4,000 after she was convicted of harvesting a prohibited species and possessing illegally caught fish, the statement said.

Both Yu and Chen were prohibited from harvesting any species of fish for two years.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada says in the statement that it closes shell fishing areas to “protect public health and ensure sustainable fisheries” for everyone.

“Unauthorized harvesting puts consumers, ecosystems, legitimate harvesters and Canada’s reputation as an exporter of safe shellfish at risk,” the agency said. “Obstructing fishery officers or failing to provide required documentation are serious offences that can result in significant penalties.”

The warning comes as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have renewed consumer advisories about potential norovirus contamination in raw oysters from Vancouver Island.

The DFO says the area where the illegal fishing occurred in the summer of 2024 was closed to harvesters at the time due to elevated risks of paralytic shellfish poisoning.