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Fishing guide fined $8,000 in B.C. for illegal fish records
Ruzheng Ma, a 71-year-old fishing guide, has been fined $8,000 in a British Columbia provincial court after pleading guilty to producing false records and possessing illegally caught fish.
The incident occurred on July 3, 2025, near Nanaimo and Gabriola Island. While acting as a guide and deckhand on a 40-foot vessel carrying 17 people, Fisheries and Oceans Canada officials boarded the charter. During the inspection, officials discovered one ling cod and 20 rockfish in buckets. While the daily limit for rockfish is one per person, Ma produced a licence that recorded a ling cod catch which officials determined had not been previously listed based on photo evidence.
Ma, a resident of Port Moody, B.C., has a prior fishing offence from 2018. His defense counsel noted that Ma had instructed participants to comply with limits and report catches to him for tracking.
Entities
British Columbia · Fisheries and Oceans Canada · Nanaimo · Ruzheng Ma
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.
- [● 4 SOURCES] Officials found one ling cod and 20 rockfish in buckets during a boarding of the vessel. campbellrivermirror.com · nanaimobulletin.com · cowichanvalleycitizen.com · vicnews.com
- [● 4 SOURCES] A B.C. provincial court judge imposed an $8,000 fine on Ma. campbellrivermirror.com · nanaimobulletin.com · cowichanvalleycitizen.com · vicnews.com
- [● 4 SOURCES] Ruzheng Ma pleaded guilty to producing false records and possessing illegally caught fish. campbellrivermirror.com · nanaimobulletin.com · cowichanvalleycitizen.com · vicnews.com
- [● 4 SOURCES] Ruzheng Ma was acting as a fishing guide and deckhand on a 40-foot vessel with 17 people on board on July 3, 2025. campbellrivermirror.com · nanaimobulletin.com · cowichanvalleycitizen.com · vicnews.com