B.C. sea cucumber mastermind slapped with huge fine and jail time | Daily Hive

B.C. sea cucumber mastermind slapped with $1M fine and hefty jail time

Scott Steer has been sentenced to six years in jail and fined more than $1.1 million. (Nanaimo RCMP | mobrafotografie/Shutterstock)

B.C. fisherman Scott Steer has been breaking fisheries laws for years, and his latest sentencing is his biggest yet.

The court’s decision reveals it all started in 2008, when Steer was first convicted for selling fish without a licence and fishing in a closed area.

Then, in 2013, he was busted again, this time for landing fish without proper validation and defrauding a crew and vessel owner.

By 2016, authorities had seen enough; Steer was banned from possessing or acquiring fishing gear, being on board any fishing vessel, and applying for a fishing licence until 2038.

But that didn’t stop him.

Instead, Steer used fake records, shady deals, and a phony company to run a secret sea cucumber operation off the B.C. coast, raking in over $1 million in illegal sales before getting caught, according to a July 31 news release from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).

Now he’s been sentenced to six years in jail, and the government is seizing nearly everything he used for his once-booming fishing operation. This sentencing follows his conviction on Jan. 8, 2025.

The charges? Illegally harvesting and selling more than 87,000 pounds of sea cucumbers between 2019 and 2020.

The ruling came down in B.C. Supreme Court this week, with Justice David Crerar describing Steer as a repeat offender who “actively orchestrated” the operation.

One of the vessels and a vehicle seized during the investigation into B.C. fisherman Scott Steer’s illegal sea cucumber operation. The boat was later forfeited and disposed of. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada/canada.ca)

Not only was he banned from fishing gear, vessels, and licences, but he also set up a sham company, 1215419 B.C. Ltd., to get around court orders, recruited crew, forged government documents, and sold the catch anyway, noted the court’s decision.

Officials say the sea cucumbers brought in over $1 million through shady sales to a Vancouver seafood processor.

The court also found that Steer’s wife was “fully involved,” and now both of them are on the hook for the $1.1 million fine, to be paid off over the next 20 years.

Nearly everything used in the illegal operation (boats, vehicles, trailers) has also been seized and forfeited.

The case is the result of a five-year investigation by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), launched after Steer was arrested in 2020 for another illegal fishing case, this time involving crab in Vancouver Harbour.

That investigation stretched across Canada, the U.S., and even China, and involved undercover transactions and phony records, according to the DFO.

“Illegal fishing like this threatens the sustainability of our fisheries,” DFO said in a statement. “And it puts honest harvesters and public health at risk.”

Why sea cucumbers?

Paan Lily/Shutterstock

Sea cucumbers might not look like much, but they are worth a lot of money.

In some Asian markets, dried sea cucumbers can sell for up to $3,000 per kilogram, making them one of the most expensive seafood products in the world.

That’s a major reason why illegal harvesting has become such a serious issue.

In B.C., only the giant red sea cucumber is allowed to be harvested, but even that is tightly controlled.

There are just 85 legal licences in the entire province, and usually only about 30 boats are active each season.

To protect the species, harvesters are given strict catch limits and can only fish in certain areas that change every three years.

The goal is to avoid overfishing and keep the sea cucumber population healthy.

So, unregulated harvesting not only threatens conservation efforts, it also opens the door to potentially unsafe, uninspected seafood entering the market.

If you have information about suspicious fishing activity, DFO encourages you to report it through their toll-free tip line at 1-800-465-4336 or to send an email tip to DFO.ORR-ONS.MPO@dfo-mpo.gc.ca..

You might also like:

Want to stay on top of all things Vancouver? Follow us on X