A St. John's court has fined Katsheshuk Fisheries $90,000 for occupational health and safety charges laid after a man was killed on a shrimp trawler two years ago.

Aaron Cull, 25, was killed in February 2012 when a metal door on a holding tank fell on his neck while he was working on the trawler Katsheshuk II.

Court had been told that Cull, a resident of St. Anthony, had been crawling through the square opening of a shrimp holding tank after he had finished inspecting it. The shutter door closed on his neck, killing him instantly.

The Katsheshuk II was about 100 kilometres off Cape Freels at the time. It was en route from the Funk Island Bank to Bay Roberts.

Katsheshuk Fisheries was sentenced Monday at court.

The company is a partnership between Ocean Choice International and the Innu Development Limited Partnership. The Crown had also charged OCI under occupational health and safety legislation, but later withdrew the charges.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada investigated the case and last year determined that a lack of training, broken equipment and an unsafe work environment contributed to the fatal incident.

The company has completed work that was ordered by Occupational Health and Safety, including an emergency stop for the hydraulic door, greater safety instruction, and warning signs.

It also plans to hold annual conferences with external consultants on safety.

Father reflects on son's death

Cull's father, Kenneth Cull, was on board the Katsheshuk II when the accident occurred; he was one of the first people to reach his son.

In a victim impact statement, Cull wrote: "I see where he was killed. I see where he died. That is hard, but I have to do it. I have to work. At least on my boat, the other workers knew Aaron too."

He also said in his statement that a parent isn't supposed to bury their child.

"I always think about what happened," he said. "Every day... Every minute of every day."