Commercial fisherman fined $30,000 for 2023 incidents off Nanaimo’s coast

Fishing gear associated with the incidents was also seized by the courts, including a float, weight, and rope.

Incident

On June 6, 2023, a DFO officer was contacted by a commercial prawn fisherman in the Halibut Bank area of the Salish Sea, located between northeastern Nanaimo and Roberts Creek on the Mainland, who said their fishing equipment was tangled with the gear of another commercial prawn operation.

The discovered gear had no traps down but did have a buoy attached, and the prawn fisherman pulled the suspicious equipment from the water, eventually seized by DFO.

Judge Christina Proteau referred to this set-up as “dummy floats”, with the intent to hold a particular fishing ground.

A registration number connected the gear with the commercial prawn vessel Dark Star, which DFO confirmed was owned and operated by Keitsch, registered as the only vessel master.

DFO was unable to contact Keitsch, with emails to his known address being bounced back and reported phone numbers disconnected or not working.

They were able to obtain Dark Star’s vessel monitoring system (VMS) data, which tracks boat information, including location and speed, and is required on specific commercial and large vessels.

The data showed the Dark Star began transmitting on May 15, the day the prawn fishing season opened, instead of the requirement to begin transmitting 72 hours before leaving port.

The Dark Star stopped transmitting for three days between May 29 and 31; however, log book entries showed they fished all three days.

The data also did not show the Dark Star in the Halibut Bank, contrary to earlier DFO reports which said the vessel was in the area on June 3.

The log book was also missing entries for June 3 and 6, despite the vessel’s VMS indicating it was fishing at the time, a violation of his fishing licence.

History

Defence attorney Owen James outlined Keitsch’s recent “extreme difficulties” with his health, including suffering multiple strokes earlier this year, leaving him in a weaker state.

James also said Keitsch is a lifelong commercial fisherman, and his license would be in jeopardy of being renewed if he had outstanding fines, further limiting his ability to pay them.

Judge Proteau agreed to an 18-year timeline to pay off the $30,000 fine, with payments due on Feb. 1 every year.

Keitsch, appearing via video link, declined to address the court.

Keitsch was fined $250,000 in Feb, 2024 for numerous violations around Sechelt in July 2020, when fisheries officers found more than 550 set prawn traps at the bottom of the Strait of Georgia Glass Sponge Reef Marine Refuge, an area closed to all forms of bottom fishing due to the fragile and environmentally significant sponge reef.

In addition, $80,000 worth of fishing gear was also forfeited.

He appealed the fine, but was denied by a B.C. Supreme Court justice in November.

Only 10 days before the most recent sentencing, Keitsch was fined $575 after pleading guilty to fishing with a barbed hook in Richmond in Aug. 2025.

Remnants of glass sponge reef disturbed by one of more than 550 prawn traps illegally dropped from Dean Keitsch’s boat Dark Star from July, 2020. (Image Credit: Fisheries and Oceans Canada)

—With files from Ian Holmes.

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by Jordan Davidson

Commercial fisherman fined $30,000 for 2023 incidents off Nanaimo’s coast

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