R v. Doody

In Due Diligence, Fish Cases, Offences on (Updated )

This case involved charges against a lobster fish harvester who had a bait fishing licence to catch herring by gillnet. It was a condition of the bait licence that the head rope of the net be at lease one meter below the surface of the water so as to allow Atlantic salmon to swim over the net. After finding the net on the surface with three Atlantic salmon in it, the owner was charged. Given the evidence that these nets were sometimes tampered with, the fact that the knots shortening the buoy lines appeared to have been tied in a hurry and the credible evidence of the accused that he checked the net the night before it was found, the court ruled that a defence of due diligence had been established.