B.C. sea cucumber poacher gets six-year sentence for 'ravaging the ocean'

A British Columbia judge has sentenced a man with the longest record of Fisheries Act violations in Canadian history to six years in prison for "ravaging the ocean and flouting the law." 

Scott Steer and his co-accused corporation faced eight charges including fishing in a closed area without a licence, selling more than $1 million worth of illegally harvested sea cucumbers and breaching an earlier order forbidding him from possessing fishing vessels. 

Steer's co-accused in the case was a numbered company owned by his wife, Melissa Steer, but the company was found to be a "sham." 

B.C. Supreme Court Justice David Crerar in Nanaimo said in his ruling that Steer has a "remarkably long record" of fisheries violations and other offences dating back more than a decade, and short stints in jail have "wholly failed to deter or rehabilitate" him.

The ruling notes that Steer, who was convicted of all eight charges, had 34 prior convictions from 13 cases dating back to 2008. 

They include illegally harvesting more than 1,000 pounds of crabs from Vancouver's harbour, defrauding a vessel owner, breaching conditions in a case of intimate-partner violence and various probation violations. 

Steer was banned from fishing for 10 years in 2013, when his wife told the court her husband's actions were "uncharacteristic" and regrettable. 

He sought a more lenient sentence by claiming he'd be rehabilitated. 

"The Steers’ actions and ongoing breaches since that date indicate that their statements to the court were cynical self-serving falsehoods," Crerar's ruling in the new case says. 

Thom Liptrot, president of the Pacific Sea Cucumber Association on Vancouver Island, said that while "it sounds like they really hit him hard this time," the six-year sentence for Steer is inadequate. 

"I didn't think it was long enough actually, when you factor in how much he'll actually have to serve," Liptrot said Tuesday.

But hopefully it would deter him, he added. 

Liptrot said Steer shouldn't be allowed to have "anything to do with any sort of fish." 

Crerar's ruling says Steer and his wife continued their illegal fishing operations even while his trial was taking place.

Steer's persistent "knowing and mocking flouting of the law" indicates the "unlikelihood of remorse or rehabilitation, now or in future."

The ruling says Steer told a witness during the trial that it was "pointless" and a "waste of time," and that he gave evidence in court that was "clearly and deliberately false." 

"The offenders’ misconduct in this regard was not limited to the trial on this matter. It spanned the entirety of this prosecution," Crerar's ruling says. 

The judge found Steer's long record and repeated Fisheries Act violations "highly aggravating" in sentencing. 

"The Crown understands Mr. Steer’s record to be the longest record of Fisheries Act violations in Canadian history. Warnings, fines, prohibitions and multiple incarceration sentences of various lengths have all failed to deter or reform Mr. Steer," the ruling says.

The judge said Steer breached four prohibition orders in his latest list of offences, which "further illustrates his contempt for the court process, as well as the futility of protecting the public and marine resources through further prohibitions or less intrusive means reliant on his voluntary compliance and reform." 

The judge found Steer's operation was "complex" and involved multiple co-conspirators, and the "scale and sophistication" of it was illustrated by the more than $1 million in illegal sea cucumber sales at the heart of the case.

The sales were made in 2019, while the illegal fishing charges involved more than 24,000 pounds of sea cucumbers that year.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada says sea cucumbers are considered a medicinal food in Asia, with China being the biggest export market.

It is a "limited entry fishery" in B.C., restricted for commercial purposes to licence holders who can only harvest by hand for eight weeks a year. 

Liptrot said there are 85 commercial licence holders in B.C., and those licences are "very valuable."

He said it's difficult to estimate how much sea cucumber poaching occurs but illegitimate operators threaten the sustainability of the industry and the species by throwing off the numbers collected by the association in setting quotas. 

"We do the science," Liptrot said.

Crerar's ruling says Steer sought leniency based on the needs of his family, including his four children with his wife and another child from her previous relationship. 

The ruling says other judges had warned Steer in past cases about consequences for his family due to him being sent to jail. 

"Steer continued in his illegal fishing operations with eyes wide open to the likely consequences of his illegal activities on his family life," Crerar's ruling says. "It is through his voluntary actions that he is separated from his family." 

The ruling says Steer believes himself "unbound by laws" and that short stints in jail as punishments are "literally a joke."

Crerar gave Steer six years in prison and also fined him and his company $1.1 million "specifically to condemn the Steers’ deliberate, destructive and dishonest actions."

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck