Powers of Fishery Officers

[wildmanyeah]

Search and Seizure - S. 49 right to Inspect Misc. - Obstruction by refusing to allow inspection and refusing to identify self

R v. Strickland

"n determining whether a fishery officer or guardian was carrying out duties and functions pursuant to section 49 of the Fisheries Act, the officer or guardian must have a subjective belief that there is something in the place to be searched in respect of which the Fisheries Act or regulations apply. The search must be for the purpose of ensuring compliance with the Fisheries Act or regulations. In addition, the officer’s or guardian’s belief must be objectively reasonable in the circumstances."

After reviewing the law,including the burden of proof and the facts, the Court rejected he Crown's evidence that the accused was fishing at the time he was observed. Accordingly they did not have an objective belief to support a s. 49 inspection. As a result the accused did not have a lawful obligation to stop the dory for an inspection.



http://www.admiraltylaw.com/FisheriesIndex.php

Have at it internet warriors!

Basically if you have anything fishing related on your boat they have grounds to search the whole vessel.

 

[Last Chance]

A peace officer can look anywhere he wants. CO's, RCMP, Bylaw Officers and even building inspectors are peace officers. Respect them, let them do their job, and get on with it. The short answer is, their authority is to uphold the laws of Canada.

 

[agentaqua]

and those laws also include case law - which has ruled on what "reasonable" search looks like - or the case gets thrown out...

 

[aheny]

There is nothing illegal about having barbed hooks in your boat. You just can't fish for salmon with them.

Since we're talking regs, I guess we want to be very specific, it's actually illegal to retain salmon, it's not illegal to fish for them.
Every mention I have ever seen of fishing for salmon with a barbed hook always mentions tidal waters of a river or freshwater.
In saltwater regulations they always mention retention of salmon rather than fishing for salmon

 

[Fins -n- Skins]

In Port Renfrew on Fathers day the Rcmp had 5-6 Zodiac's searching lots of boats. They also had on board dfo and US Homeland security officers. They were checking for registration papers for the boat,fish, gear and id for proof of citizenship. There were lots of Americans up and also getting checked for ID. The US and Canada are now working together.