Alone and threatened on a boat far out to sea

The fishing boat Endeavor makes its' way in towards the harbour in Sooke on Vancouver Island, lit up by the setting sun. In the background are the mountains of the Olympic Penninsula in Washington State. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Don Denton

By The Big Story

Posted May 15, 2020 5:15 am.

In today’s Big Story podcast, every bottom-trawling fishing boat off the coast of British Columbia has an independent observer on board. The observers monitor the catch and protect against overfishing and environmental harm.

But when they do that, they’re the only person on the boat with the power to report the captain and crew and cost them fines or perhaps their jobs. And many of them say they’ve been pressured to ignore violations, to the point where some have felt unsafe and have overlooked things they knew were going wrong.

This is the story of the investigation that turned up an ugly practice happening way out at sea …

GUEST: Jimmy Thomson, The Narwhal

You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify.

You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.

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