B.C.’s most notorious poacher has been found guilty again, this time of illegally harvesting and selling sea cucumbers, and breaching previous bans against owning a fishing vessel and fishing gear.
Scott Stanley Matthew Steer was found guilty Wednesday of eight counts of contravening the federal Fisheries Act, based in part on information seized from his cellphone wallet that was tossed overboard after a boat chase in Vancouver harbour.
Steer had already spent time in jail for illegally fishing, and had been slapped with a lifetime ban against fishing or even being on board a fishing vessel until 2038 — the first such ban in the Pacific region in over a decade.
In the latest trial, charges included fishing without a licence, fishing out of season, and several violations of Steer’s prohibition from owning fishing gear in 2019 and 2020. A numbered company operated by Steer’s wife Melissa was charged with illegal sale of sea cucumbers.
Nanaimo-based federal Fisheries officer, Shaun Tadei led the investigation and said Steer had previously been caught illegally fishing for halibut, crab, prawns and other fish in West Coast waters and flouting various fishing bans.
The latest case came after the Nanaimo man was caught illegally harvesting Dungeness crab in Vancouver Harbour on March 2, 2020, after a darkened, stationary vessel was spotted by a crew member on a passing SeaBus.
The crew reported the suspicious vessel to the Fisheries Department. Steer and two other men on board were arrested at the North Vancouver dock after a high-speed boat chase.
Court heard that Steer tossed his cellphone overboard just before his arrest.
Tadei said two DFO divers retrieved the phone three days later, as well as Steer’s driver’s licence, debit card and credit card which were in the phone case.
“It was the most treacherous diving they had done. There were things all over the sea bed in the marina, cables and boat debris, and near-zero visibility,” he said.
The department began an investigation that led to the six counts alleging Steer illegally caught and sold sea cucumbers, and had again breached court prohibitions against possessing or acquiring fishing gear or vessels.
“By going through the telephone records, as well as searching Steer’s Nanaimo home and interviewing several people, officers revealed from July to December 2019, Steer bought vessels and a refrigerator truck, retrofitted the vessels for commercial fishing, bought fishing gear and supplies, incorporated the numbered company, obtained licences, recruited crew, generated false DFO records, oversaw and directed several sea cucumber fishing expeditions in closed areas and without licences, and sold those sea cucumbers,” wrote B.C. Supreme Court Justice David Crerar in his decision.
Steer “actively orchestrated every aspect of the entire illegal sea cucumber operation of harvest and sale,” the judge said, adding that the Crown had established its case with “extensive, exhausting, convincing, comprehensive and corroborative evidence.
“The evidence also establishes that Melissa Steer was fully involved in this deceptive and evasive plan.”
Tadei said that Steer was a “very smart individual” who was once a licensed commercial fisherman.
“He started with small violations and fines and kept going from there. He has been in deep water a long time,” Tadei said, adding that commercial fishers in Alaska and B.C. took a very dim view of his actions.
According to the B.C. Seafood Alliance, Pacific sea cucumbers are highly prized in China and Hong Kong for their nutritional value and medicinal uses.
Sea cucumbers can only be harvested by divers employed by one of the 85 licence-holders in B.C. and only during certain limited times.
Steer is scheduled to appear in Nanaimo law courts on Jan. 13 to set a date for sentencing.
With files from Cheryl Chan and Gordon Hoekstra and with research by Postmedia librarian Carolyn Soltau