A San Ignacio fisherman is facing a huge fine after he took a plea for possessing 141 undersized conch.
34-year-old, Elexander Luberth Harris, along with three fishermen from Dangrga Town were caught by the Fisheries Department yesterday in the early morning East of Long Caye within the Lighthouse Reef Atoll. On their boat, the Mahajan, they had 141 cleaned and partially processed conch, all under the minimum size of 3 ounces.
They were all jointly charged with one count of possession of undersize conch.
In court, Harris wasted no time and pleaded guilty to the offense.. With that, the prosecutor, withdrew the charge from the other men.
Harris was spared a jail sentence, but left to pay the stiff fine. Under revised laws, The penalty for the offense of possession of undersized conchs can be a high as $100 per conch.
But using her discretion in imposing a penalty, the Magistrate looked at the fact that this was Harris's first conviction, so she fined him $10,000 dollars.
For the penalty, she imposed $50 per conchs which when multiplied by 141 the amount of conchs he was busted with, added up to $7,050 more in fines, making his overall total in fines to be $17,050 dollars.
Harris has until February 28, 2023 to pay all that - or in default he will be sent to jail and forfeit his personal possessions.
