A Pender Harbour-based fishing charter company and two of its guides have been fined a total of $22,000 for fisheries violations that took place in May 2024 near Nelson Island.
Rainbow Covenant Fishing Yacht Charter Ltd. (formerly operated as Mctec Fishing Charters) and guides Jonathan Li and Guang Yi Xu pled guilty to charges for catching and retaining yelloweye rockfish during a closed time and fishing with illegal crab traps, at Sechelt Provincial Court on Jan. 16.
Xu and Simon Li, the charter company’s proprietor and chief operating officer who accepted joint responsibility for the company fines, attended court and spoke through an interpreter. Jonathan Li, Simon’s son, is an engineering student in Ontario and had a lawyer acting on his behalf.
In a press release March 4, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said yelloweye rockfish is a species of special concern under the Canadian Species at Risk Act and is “highly vulnerable” to overfishing.
In May 2024, fisheries officers observed Xu, skipper of the recreational fishing charter Deep Sniper targeting yelloweye rockfish near Nelson Island and allowing the 10 fishing guests onboard to catch and retain them, said the press release. The Crown lawyer told the court, the fisheries officers were on an unmarked vessel, which allowed them to get close to Deep Sniper and they observed multiple fishers fishing from a reef. It is prohibited to retain yelloweye rockfish anywhere – unlike with other species, there’s zero retention allowed. Once fishery officers confirmed several of the fish were caught and retained on the vessel, they intercepted and boarded it. According to the Crown, four rockfish total were retained unlawfully.
Fisheries officers also retrieved two conical crab traps that had been set in Pender Harbour (rather than ring traps), which aren’t allowed to be used in the area, primarily for navigational and manageability reasons, according to the Crown.
The Crown noted that neither Xu nor Jonathan Li have any record of prior fisheries convictions, nor does Rainbow Covenant Fishing Yacht Charter Ltd., but its predecessor, Mctec Fishing Charters, does have recorded violations from 2016, 2018 and 2019.
Judge Steven Merrick agreed to the joint submission of a fine of $12,000 for the charter company and a further $1,000 fine for Jonathan Li. Xu was fined $9,000. All of the fish caught, eight fishing rods and reels and two crab traps were forfeited. Rainbow Covenant Fishing Yacht Charter Ltd. is prohibited from employing Jonathan Li or Xu as guides for one year, though the men may act as vessel masters. The two men are also prohibited from fishing between May and April 2025. The company itself is prohibited from engaging in any fishing in May 2025 –– a financial hit the accused’s lawyer Darcy Lawrence estimated is “likely in excess of $50,000.”
Lawrence said the accused learned lessons through the incident and added that the three understand “because of what they do and what they love to do, that their stewardship of the ocean and the inhabitants of the ocean is paramount to the survival of everything in the ocean.”
“Mr. Xu and Mr. Li make their living off of fishing charters and they truly do understand that if they abuse the regulations, not only is there no more work, but more importantly, there's no more fish,” said Lawrence. “One could look at this as well, they only caught maybe four extra yellow[eyed rockfish] but they don't think that and I can assure your honor of that.”
Merrick said he was impressed by what the elder Li and Xu had instructed their lawyer to say.
“We're all human, and we can all make mistakes, and I think that's what happened on this day,” said Merrick. “I'm impressed with how quickly both of you accepted responsibility for what occurred and how you instructed your lawyer to talk with the Crown to resolve this and agree to significant penalties.
“We all have a responsibility to be stewards of the environment and preserve the resources.”
