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Test SourcePosted: February 2nd, 2006 by Thomas L. Knapp
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Date: 00/00/00
Posted: February 2nd, 2006 by Thomas L. Knapp
Author: Test Author
February 6th, 2006 at 12:59 am
Charges unlikely in illegal chum sale, DFO says
Cowichan Valley Citizen
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Page: 8
Section: News
Byline: Andrea Rondeau
Source: The Citizen
Some Cowichan Tribes band members remain upset and angry over what they see as inadequate action taken by both officials at the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Tribes chief and council after almost $43,000 worth of chum were sold illegally.
“It’s a big legal issue. It’s not small, and everything’s kept under the rug,” says band member Kevin Thorne.
The fish were caught legally in 2003 through the food fishery and should have gone to the community for use as food fish or for ceremonial purposes.
Instead, however, the $42, 800 worth of chum salmon were sold to an export company from China.
The sale was discovered by the band in January 2005 and the money turned over to DFO.
Two Tribes fisheries staff members were suspended for three months without pay in connection with the incident.
Elliot Teskey, a field supervisor for the area with DFO, says they are investigating the matter but recognize it has been dealt with internally by Cowichan Tribes.
“At this point with what we have we don’t anticipate charges,” Teskey said Monday. “That could change depending on how things go in the future but that’s the way it looks right now.”
It’s a punishment Thorne, a third-generation commercial fisherman, says is far too lenient.
“The people got suspensions for three months,” said Thorne. “That’s breaking the law, that’s illegal. People elsewhere, they’d get jail time or thousands and thousands in fines.”
He says he knows many other band members who are upset as well, particularly Tribal Elders.
“It’s pretty important,” he said of the fishery he’s recently given up as a full-time career. “My grandfather fished, my father, now me… It’s a livelihood, the fish for our people. For other people it’s just a delicacy. There’s a lot of injured feelings, disrespect.”
DFO should be going after the the problem a lot more aggressively, Thorne says, and he doesn’t think Cowichan Tribes are the only band where illegal disposal of fish has occurred.
“A lot of bands are doing it. A lot of bands are getting caught but nobody’s hearing about it,” he says. “They’ll wreck it for everybody, people who are trying to survive in the fishing industry.”
Such incidents could also hurt First Nations treaty negotiations, he says, if people are found breaking the rules just as natives are working out rights agreements in industries such as the fishery.
“It’ll put a black spot on everybody,” says Thorne.
(see previous article here)
July 22nd, 2007 at 4:25 pm
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July 22nd, 2007 at 4:26 pm
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July 25th, 2007 at 8:21 am
GOOD JOB mr KNAPP THANKS KEVIN J THORNE PH.250 746 6524
September 14th, 2007 at 8:24 am
MR KNAPP PLEASE ON TO COWICHAN TRIBES FIASCO.COM KEVIN J THORNE 250 746 6524
October 10th, 2007 at 5:55 am
MR KNAPP CHECK OUT NEW GALLERY 2 AND 3 OF COWICHAN TRIBES FIASCO THANKS KEV THORNE ILLGAL FISH SALE TO CHINA
November 3rd, 2007 at 1:54 am
To Mr. Knapp, 2 Cowichan Tribes employees should be exonerated and a public apology from Chief and Council.
To All:
In October 2003, the Cowichan asked DFO for a licence to harvest 45,000 chums for food, social and ceremonial purposes and authority to sell the roe to cover the cost of the “food” fishery. The Cowichan have about 3,000 members (1/3 live off the reserve), so this amounts to about 100 pounds of chum salmon per every Cowichan man, woman and child.
I. THE ILLEGAL ROE SALE
According to Provincial Court of BC judge P. Chen, here is how the chum roe was sold illegally:
- In November 2003, DFO gave the Cowichan tribes a licence to catch 15,000 chum salmon for food purposes.
- The Cowichan hired Jim Butterworth to manage the harvesting and processing of the “food” fish;
- The licence was supposedly amended to allow a catch of 25,000 chums instead of 15,000 and the prohibition on using a seine boat was waived;
- Chief Alphonse of the Cowichan tribes wrote to DFO requesting that the sale of the roe be allowed to offset the cost of the food fishery, but he could not recall whether DFO replied;
- Josh Duncan on the Western King was hired to catch the fish.
- He off-loaded at the Steveston Seafood Auction and Keep-it-Cool trucks brought the chums to Leader Cold Storage;
- Leader processed the fish and removed the roe;
- The roe was send to Standard Exports for processing and then returned to Leader Cold Storage;
- The incoming waybills to Leader showed the fish entering the plant under the name of Jim Butterworth, but leaving the plant to go to Standard under the name of Salmon Caviar Corp.
- When the roe came back to Leader Cold Storage it was under another new name: Keystone Merchandising Corp.;
- Standard Exports then sold the roe for Butterworth to ITFC Importers in Toronto
- ITFC issued a cheque to Standard Exports for $15,834 to cover the cost of 62 full cases of roe and 2 partial cases;
- Standard then paid Jim Butterworth $11,635.89 which was the sale price less the cost of the roe processing, shipping and Standard’s 3% commission for arranging the sale.
The defense tried to convince Judge Chen that the roe bought by ITFC Importers was not the same roe that came from the Cowichan “food” fishery, but Fishery Officers and the Crown prosecutors were successful in proving each link in the chain of possession. All in all, this conviction was the result of outstanding work by Fishery Officers and the Crown prosecutors who handled this trial.
II. THE CARCASS SALE
We are not sure if anyone in the Cowichan tribes was prosecuted for their role in this illegal sale, but this website contains various Cowichan documents related to the roe and the carcass sale including a review by Cowichan lawyers:
http://cowichantribesfiasco.com/Illegal%20Fishing/index.html
According to the lawyers, Cowichan members Larry George and Wayne Paige received $42,800 in a brown paper bag which was then turned over to DFO after the illegal sale was discovered. George and Paige claimed to be acting on orders of the Chief, but the Cowichan lawyers say instructions from the Chief to “move” the fish did not mean “sell” the fish.
The chums were sold to a China company for an unknown amount which could have been as high as $195,000, but nobody seems to know how much North Pacific paid, but it appears that delivery never took place – with luck the company is out $195,000.
According to the Cowichan lawyers, as of March 2005, the Cowichan are responsible for $136,000 in storage and processing charges at Leader and the storage costs were $3,200 per month and climbing.
III. CONCLUSION
There is more to come on this story. Butterworth has not been sentenced yet, but seine boat skippers will remember being virtually shut out of this area in 2003, so the Cowichan could catch their “food” fish only to have it sold commercially a few months later. We will advise when he is sentenced.
We will also inquire whether anyone in the Cowichan associated with this event was charged. This is especially relevant now as DFO gave the Cowichan a $4,500 dollar a day contract to do the test-fishing for Goldstream chums this year without DFO going to tender. If someone has intentions to sell food-fish illegally this year, Fishery Officers and prosecutors will have a much more difficult time proving any illegally-sold “food” fish is not test fish.
Regards,
Phil Eidsvik
BC Fisheries Survival Coalition
406-535 Howe Street
Vancouver, BC
V6C 2Z4
Phone: 604-638-0114
Fax: 604-638-0116
Email: bcfish@shawlink.ca
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