Dean Keitsch's vessel Dark Star, as spotted fisheries investigators in 2020 (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)

By Ian Holmes

Appeal denied

Fishermen fails to get fine cut for damaging Sunshine Coast violations

Nov 14, 2024 | 4:24 PM

NANAIMO — An experienced commercial angler remains on the hook for a $250,000 fine for damaging an environmentally sensitive ecosystem while bottom fishing for prawns.

An appeal launched on behalf of Dean Keitsch, 61, was heard and ultimately recently denied by a B.C. Supreme Court justice who disagreed the offender’s punishment was excessive.

Fisheries officers recovered more than 550 prawn traps from the bottom of the Strait of Georgia Glass Reef Marine Refuge over several occasions in 2020.

Evidence of extensive damage to the slow-growing, fragile reefs was submitted at trial which concluded in 2023, resulting in the precedent-setting fine levied earlier this year in connection to 13 Fisheries Act violations.

Through his legal counsel, Keitsch didn’t challenge his guilt, forfeiture of $80,000 worth of fishing gear and one-year ban from being a vessel master, but rather argued the principle of totality.

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Keitsch, a first-time offender, lobbied for the fine’s reduction to $140,100, arguing his financial penalty was “excessive and demonstrably unfit.”

In rendering her decision on appeal, Justice Palbinder Shergill acknowledged how the sentencing judge noted the unique, fragile and value of glass sponge ecosystems which provide important habitat for marine species like spot prawns, rockfish, halibut and sharks.

“The Sentencing Judge noted that it ‘is aggravating that Mr. Keitsch was the captain of the vessel, that he is an experienced fisher, that there was damage to the glass sponge reef, that the reef is a delicate site that is not easily rejuvenated, and overall Mr. Keitsch has demonstrated a significant disregard for the requirements of commercial fishing, including allowing two fishers to work for him who were unlicensed, one of which was his son.’”

Remnants of glass sponge reef disturbed by one of more than 550 prawn traps illegally dropped from Dean Keitsch’s boat Dark Star. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)

Expert testimony at trial submitted Ketisch’s prawn traps broke off pieces of sponge glass, which can negatively impact their ability to filter, feed and grow.

Keitsch was also convicted of multiple counts of failing to comply with the conditions of his fishing license,

Common 200 million years ago and thought to be extinct until discovered in the late 1980’s off the coast of B.C. and Washington state, Keitsch’s trial heard glass sponges can be up to 19 meters high and over a kilometre wide.

Glass sponge reefs are predominately located in Howe Sound, while there are also found in local waters east of Gabriola Island and off of Parksville.

Keitsch is scheduled to go on trial next April in provincial court in Nanaimo related to five additional fisheries charges.

He’s charged with failing to comply with terms and conditions of a fishing lease or license in the Nanaimo area in May and June 2023.

More information on glass sponge reefs off coastal B.C. courtesy of Fisheries and Oceans Canada can be found here.

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Ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes