DFO says officers were not involved in ice chase

RIVER JOHN - An official with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans said fisheries officers were not involved in an off-highway truck chase in River John last month.
On Jan. 25, two Chevrolet Blazer SUVs were found abandoned on the frozen John River passing through the village centre.
One blazer had been parked on the ice for a number of days, while the second was being driven up and down the river until the driver had abandoned it, following what passersby believed to be a chase involving department conservation and protection officers.
"There was no actual chasing of trucks by our fisheries officers," said Krista Petersen, DFO spokeswoman. "It's certainly not something our fisheries officers would get involved in."
One of the abandoned trucks fell through the ice and was submerged up to its roof.
She said fisheries officers were on the ice that day, driving ATVs to remove a fishing shack from the thawing river before it fell through.
"Our fisheries officers will remove a shack if it is at risk of sinking," she said. "Because that day the temperatures were going up, it looked like they were at risk of losing that shack, so our fisheries officers will go as far as to haul that shack off versus let it sink if they can't find the owner of it at that time."
She said fisheries officers were in the same geographic area as RCMP officers and "chatted" with them on the ice.
"Basically there were things happening close to one another; there was some contact, some moving around," said Petersen.
She said because it is an RCMP file there will not be any further involvement by fisheries officers.