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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Commercial fisherman Brian Abbott said he has plans to appeal Wednesday's territorial court decision to fine him $6,000 for committing four Fisheries Act violations.

While a judge cast doubt over his level of competence in the industry, he is questioning her understanding of the case due to what Abbott says was a lack of information provided to her.

Abbott, the owner and operator of Great Slave Fish Products Ltd. on Jolliffe Island, pleaded guilty to failing to register a commercial vessel, fishing in an area closed to commercial fishing, using improperly marked fishing nets and failing to fill out a commercial harvest logbook completely and accurately on a daily basis.

During a July 16 court appearance, Abbott explained the events leading to the violations that occurred on July 29, 2011 and Aug. 11, 2011. Judge Bernadette Schmaltz said she felt he was just making excuses. During her ruling, Schmaltz noted her concern over what she perceived as Abbott's lack of remorse for his actions.

"When we have a resource as valuable as Great Slave fisheries we all have to make sure that we maintain and protect it," Schmaltz said. "I don't believe (Abbott) recognizes the importance of regulating our natural resources."

Abbott said Schmaltz's assessment could not be further from the truth. He plans to appeal the case because he feels the judge was unable to make an informed decision.

"I can hold nothing against the judge for her decision because with the information she was given she couldn't come to any other conclusion. The problem is she was not given any of the pertinent facts whatsoever, aside from the Crown's position," Abbott said. "And the Crown should have been given the facts and I suspect (then) they would have dropped most, if not all the charges."

The Crown dropped four other fisheries charges upon conviction.

Since Abbott took over Great Slave Fish Products Ltd. from Archie Buckley in 2009, he said he has had nothing but problems. It has been a steep learning curve, he acknowledged, as he had no previous experience in the fishing business.

Matters were made worse, he said, by the unclear information he received from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The map he was given to illustrate the area closed to commercial fishers was very rudimentary, and when he tried to clarify the boundaries with the department he received very little guidance, he said.

The federal department has since made improvements to its paperwork and the information it provides, added Abbott, who had 1,500 kilograms of fish seized from his plant by fisheries officials on Aug. 11, 2011 and he won't be compensated for it.

In addition, he said he was unaware his nets were improperly marked and that his vessel was not registered. He handed in the paperwork, he said, and was under the impression it had been processed.

If the judge had known this information she would have ruled differently, Abbott said.

"I intended to save the public a lot of undue cost by entering guilty pleas with a factual explanation of what happened but the facts were not heard so it sounded like lame excuses," Abbott said. "The facts speak for themselves ... had anybody read anything that we turned in we probably wouldn't be here today."

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