Court rules 'guilty' for five Northern Peninsula crab fishermen

PORT AU CHOIX, N.L. — Port au Choix, N.L. – Five Great Northern Peninsula fishermen have been found guilty of charges relating to a 2017 incident off Port au Choix.
In provincial court in Corner Brook on July 16 Dean Offrey, Joseph Hynes, Benedict Lavers, Edmund Moores and George Plowman were each found guilty of obstructing a fisheries official and failure to comply with condition of fishing license. 
Offrey was also convicted on a charge of dangerous operation of a vessel.
The charges stemmed from an incident on May 8, 2017, when the five crab harvesters took their boats off the shores of Port au Choix and laid down their pots in Area 13 – where they were not permitted to do so.
The boats also surrounded a Canadian Coast Guard vessel, preventing it from moving.
The men told The Northern Pen at the time they were protesting out of frustration against a policy that allowed boats from Quebec to fish crab in Area 13, while Newfoundland harvesters had to travel 30 miles from the Port au Choix shore to Area 12 to fish their crab.
They are scheduled to appear in court for sentencing on Sept. 18.