Banned Gabriola Island commercial fisherman taken to B.C.’s highest court
GABRIOLA ISLAND — A lengthy history of fishing act violations and court breaches has taken an embattled Gabriola Island commercial fisherman to the top court in B.C.
A notice of civil claim against Scott Stanley Matthew Steer was filed in the B.C. Supreme Court by the province on June 28. The B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office is seeking Steer’s Gabriola Island home and more than $1.3 million in cash across various bank accounts.
The office claimed Steer, who’s prohibited from being involved in any sort of fishing until 2038, laundered profits from illegal fishing through the purchase and payments of the Gabriola Island home and he’s continued to commercially fish through many different companies in both his name and that of his common-law wife Melissa Larocque.
“Since at least 2010, Steer, Larocque and the defendant companies have been engaging in illegal fish, sales of fish, immigration and tax contraventions in addition to ongoing breaches of Steer’s court order.”