This case involved a trawl vessel that commenced fishing in a area where a lobster vessel had already set a string of traps. After entangling its trawl gear in the string of lobster traps, charges were laid under s. 37(1) of the Atlantic Fishery Regulations for failing to maintain a distance of at least one-half nautical mile between the trawl vessel and a previously set lobster trap.
After an interesting review of the law relating to the due diligence defence and the overlapping nature of the mistake of fact defence, the court rejected the trawler’s due diligence defence on grounds that the vessel failed to attempt to contact the Lobster vessel on either of the two radio channels which the lobster vessels were known to use.