Fishing leads to hefty fines

A fishing expedition cost a Corporate Area man $50,000, after he was found aboard a vessel without a fishing licence.

Ricardo Gray pleaded guilty to failure to have fishing licence and no fishing licence before Chief Parish Judge Chester Crooks on Thursday.

"Me did deh a my gate and me just say me ago guh wid dem. Me anuh fisherman but a my uncle boat and me never have nothing a do, so me just say me ago wid dem. Me never a expect say a dis woulda gwan," Gray explained.

"But you know that fishermen have to have a licence right?" Crooks asked.

"Yes, Your Honour, me live inna the fishing village, but me a nuh fisherman. A nuh my trade that but me know dem fi have it because people from Food For The Poor and dem place deh always come to the village," he replied.

Gray is charged with Keddon Godfrey, who also pleaded guilty to the offences in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court. Godfrey is a fisherman but admitted that he did not have his licence when he was stopped by the marine police.

"If me did know, enuh, Your Honour, because me nuh normally go sea," Gray stressed.

Both men were fined $50,000 or 30 days imprisonment. But another Corporate Area man faced a similar fate as Gray, as he too, shared with the chief parish judge that he accompanied a friend fishing.

"He said he would help me pay the fine, Your Honour," the man indicated before he was fined $50,000 or 30 days imprisonment for having no fishing licence.