Minister of Fisheries and Oceans v. Ahousaht First Nation et al., 2014 FCA 211

In Aboriginal Rights/Defences, Fish Cases, Fisheries Practice on (Updated )

This case involved the appeal of a decision of the Federal Court issued on 28 February 2014 restraining the Minister of Fisheries from opening a commercial herring roe fishery(digested on this website). Since the commercial herring fishery was completed before the Crown requested an expedited appeal in June of 2014, the court ruled that there were no factors that would …

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R v. Balsom, 2014 CanLII 72869 (NL PC)

In Fish Cases, Forfeiture, Offences on (Updated )

This case involved a a 71 year old man who was caught setting a net across a creek from which three trout were retrieved. He was fined $3,000 for illegally fishing with a net and $1,000 for illegal possession of three trout. After reviewing a number of authorities regarding forfeitures under the Fisheries Act and concluding that it had the …

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Marion et al. v. Perley et al., 2015 NBQB 147

In Aboriginal Rights/Defences, Contracts, Fish Cases, Fisheries Practice on (Updated )

This case involved an alleged agreement whereby the plaintiff paid a First Nation for the exclusive right to manage and operate its commercial fisheries for the 2013, 2014 and 2015 fisheries. The agreement allegedly gave the plaintiff full control over the commercial fishery operations, the right to lease licences at will from the First Nation and be the designate as …

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Giroux v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 FC 683

In Fish Cases, Judicial Review/Crown Liability on (Updated )

This case involved a challenge by group of commercial scallop fishers from one area when the Minister of Fisheries issued licenses to another group that allowed the other group to fish in the first groups historical area. This application was denied on the grounds that the Minister had very broad discretion to manage fisheries and issue licenses in doing so. …

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R v. Echodh, 2015 SKPC 76

In Fish Cases, Miscellaneous, Offences on (Updated )

This case involved a fish harvester commercial ice fishing in Saskatchewan. He took the most profitable fish (walleye) to market but left the less profitable fish (whitefish and pike) on the ice mixed in with fish offal. After rejecting much of the evidence presented by the accused, the court convicted him under s. 92(C) of the Fisheries Regulations of wasting …

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Doucette v. Her Majesty the Queen (Minister of Fisheries), 2015 FC 734

In Fish Cases, Judicial Review/Crown Liability on (Updated )

In this case, the Applicant was a commercial fish harvester residing in Prince Edward Island who wished to move to New Brunswick. In order to do so, he sold the fishing license that he used while living in Prince Edward Island. After consulting with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans ("DFO"), he moved to New Brunswick and entered into an …

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R v. Duncan, 2015 BCPC 176

In Fish Cases, Offences, Officially Induced Error on (Updated )

This case involved a commercial salmon seine fishery that for some time had been pooled in the sense that only some of the available fishing vessel are allowed to participate in the fishery. In the past, vessels that were assigned a catch in the pool, but did not have the required license to fish, purchased temporary assignments of licenses from …

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D'Eon Fisheries Ltd. (Re) v., 2016 NSCA 30

In Fish Cases, Fisheries Practice on (Updated )

This case involved a borrower that granted a number of Personal Property Security Act ("PPSA") interests under the Nova Scotia PPSA Act over its enterprise allocation of silver hake. Two of the PPSA security holders had registered their security interests as follows: "all of the debtor’s rights, title and interest of every kind which the debtor has in, to or …

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R v. Dempsey, 2015 NUCJ 15

In Fish Cases, Miscellaneous, Offences on (Updated )

This case involved a fishing vessel that was observed by a Fisheries Officer in a plane to have fishing gear in a closed area. The fisheries officer conducted an interview of the captain of the fishing vessel by radio. The accused captain attempted to exclude the evidence at trial on sections 7 and 10 of the Charter. The court rejected …

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