Fisheries and Oceans Canada is revealing a court in Prince Rupert handed down the first conviction under new Marine Mammal Regulations in August for coming too close to a whale. The department says Provincial Court Judge George Leven found guide Scott Babcock guilty of approaching a humpback whale at a distance of less than 100 metres. It says the incident occurred in the Work Channel, 50 kilometres north of Prince George, in July 2018. The department says Babcock was ordered to pay a fine of two-thousand dollars and also did two days of community service educating the public on boater safety around whales.
