A Port Elgin fisherman has net fines of $60,000 after pleading guilty to a couple charges laid by Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry officers.
Gregory Jackson, a captain with Inland Sea Products, plead guilty to obstructing a conservation officer and also for failing to comply with conditions of his licence.
The obstruction charge dated back to 2018 when conservation officers accompanied Jackson on his commercial fishing boat on three occasions. Jackson reported leaving a commercial fish gill net in the waters of Lake Huron due to ice conditions. An investigation revealed the timeline and coordinates of the net location that he gave to the officers were false. That charge carried a $55,000 fine.
Jackson was also fined $5,000 for failing to declare his catch in the daily report, as required under a commercial fish licence, while off the shores of Goderich.
Both cases were heard remotely in Goderich Court in November.