P.E.I. lobster boat captain jailed 9 months for deaths of 2 men

A Prince Edward Island lobster boat captain has been sentenced to nine months in jail on two counts of dangerous operation of a conveyance causing death.

Clarence Barry White will also be prohibited from operating a vessel for three years. 

White had put his boat on autopilot and was filling out his log book on the water off Beach Point in June 9, 2018, when the vessel struck another fishing boat broadside, killing two of the five people aboard. 

Justin MacKay and Chris Melanson's relatives had given victim impact statements in an earlier court proceeding.

"He pointed his vessel for home, engaged his autopilot and hoped for the best," Justice Gregory Cann said of White while announcing his sentencing decision on Thursday.

"He placed himself in control of a lethal weapon weighing thousands of pounds and then abandoned control."

The Crown had been seeking 24 to 30 months of imprisonment, while the defence argued for house arrest, a jail sentence to be served on weekends, or a suspended sentence with probation and fine.

The judge chose a sentence representing the middle of that spectrum, after citing cases involving texting while driving and speeding through a construction zone. 

"The distractions of modern society are many, from electronic devices to running a small business," Cann told the court. "Those distractions can get people killed ... Time behind the wheel is not time to get other things done."