New fines for feeding seals came into effect this week, but Victoria Harbour staff won't be the ones to enforce it.
CEO of the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority, Ian Robertson said they plan on continuing to educate the public, rather than impose fines.
“Our role here is to educate and provide signage,” Robertson said. “We do have our team that’s down there that monitors all the activities going down at Fisherman’s Wharf and they’re trained on how to educate the public around this.”
Robertson said they implemented a ban on feeding seals in April of last year, and the businesses at Fisherman’s Wharf have been cooperating.
“We’re really happy, we’ve seen our commercial operators that operate down there, they’ve complied by not selling herring in an open way like they used to do,” Robertson said.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans introduced increased fines for feeding seals which came into effect this week.
Now if caught feeding a seal a fine of $100,000 could be handed out.