A man has been issued a large fine after an encounter with dolphins last year.
Stephen Michael White was fined $5,000 in Campbell River Provincial Court for speeding towards a pack of Pacific white-sided dolphins on a jet ski.
White came within a few feet of the pod in Broughton Strait near Port McNeill while filming them on his cell phone in August 2022, closer than the 100 metre legal approach distance under the Marine Mammal Regulations.
The court determined his actions were reckless and also issued a six month ban from operating a motorized vessel on water and prohibited from posting anything related to marine mammals on social media.
The case is the first successful prosecution in Canada under the Marine Mammal Regulations approach distance provisions.
The species relies on echolocation to navigate their environment and close encounters with a vessel can disrupt their natural behaviours and interfere with essential sound signals used for communicating, foraging, and socializing.
