Dog Sniffs Out Illegal Lobster

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Canada has a new team helping them to sniff out illegal lobster on the wharves this summer a dog named Sonic and his handler John Stuart. Sonic is a three-year-old German shepherd and is trained to detect the smell of fertilized lobster eggs on the bellies of spawning female lobster. For conservation purposes, fishermen are required to throw egg-bearing females back. It is illegal to bring them ashore and that is where Sonic comes in. He goes out to different wharves with his handler and meets the fishermen when they come back in with the day’s catch. He then sniffs the catch as it is brought on shore to make sure that conservation laws are being followed by the fishing companies.



Sonicwas investigating lobster catches in Grahams Pond on Tuesday and Launching Wharf on Wednesday. So far Sonic has not found any illegally landed lobster. The dog will be making more visits to other wharves around the province in the days ahead but fisheries officers are not saying where. The fine for taking spawning females can reach as high as $100,000. In previous years, DFO has gone to court and won with evidence sniffed out by specially trained dogs.