Posters are appearing on Vancouver Island telephone poles calling Mike Hicks a “poacher and a liar”, the candidate to be a regional director for the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area said today.

“It's of course devastating to me and my family,” said Hicks, adamant that people should hear his side of the story before they decide how to vote.

The posters are based on a Tyee story that said Hicks left a similar position in Bamfield in 1992 amid conflict of interest allegations. The story also mentioned that in 2005 Fisheries and Oceans Canada had fined the fishing guide $2,000 for fishing in a protected area.

In Bamfield Hicks voted against a proposal for a floating resort in Effingham Inlet. “I looked at it and thought it wasn't a floating resort, it was a floating condominium,” he said. His friends in the oyster farming industry were worried what the affect would be on the local environment, he said. “I voted against it and essentially stopped it.”

However, Hicks owned the Tyee Resort and Fishing Lodge in Bamfield at the time. “I guess I was the biggest lodge in Barkley Sound,” he said. “It was pointed out to me we were going to get sued . . . They said I turned it down because I was worried about competition.”

Rather than have the district fight a potentially lengthy court battle, he said, he quit. “I quit for the benefit of the community and to help my oyster farmer friends. No huge heat on that one . . . I'm definitely not ashamed of it. I never thought of it until I ran in this election.”

As for the illegal fishing fine, Hicks said he had four clients on his boat Predator that foggy day. They were fly fishing for coho when he got a hook through a finger. “It sort of stuns you and shocks you a bit,” he said.

While he tried to deal with the hook, the boat drifted into the Swiftsure Bank, a nutrient-rich area that had been closed to fishing for many years. One of the clients, he remembers them being lawyers, got bored and started casting for practice. That's when the fisheries officers pulled up beside them.

Hicks said he took responsibility, hoping the officers would cut him some slack because of the injury. They didn't. Instead the officers confiscated Hicks fishing gear and fined him.

The Juan de Fuca Electoral Area, part of the Capital Regional District, includes several communities on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, including Otter Point, Jordan River and Port Renfrew. The main issue is development in the area, where last year the provincial government released large amounts of Western Forest Products' privately owned land from management under the Tree Farm License system.

“I'm not anti-development, but I'm not pro-development,” said Hicks. “I'm hoping to be an independent person who's accountable to nobody, except maybe the silent majority.”

The other candidate for the position is Ute Schnarr. She could not be reached by posting time.

Schnarr has been the alternate to outgoing director Eric Lund. Her website says she supports efforts to restrict development until proper community planning and zoning can be done.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.