ST. JOHN'S, Newfoundland — A female fishing captain turned author — best known in Gloucester for being the last to have contact with the ill-fated Andrea Gail — has been convicted by the Canadian government for fishing illegally inside Canada's 200-mile limit.

The verdict against Linda Greenlaw, of Isle of Haut, Maine, was delivered last week in provincial court in St. John's by Judge Joseph Woodrow. She had been free on $10,000 bail. She'll be sentenced June 9.

Greenlaw, 48, was arrested last September after a Canadian fisheries patrol plane spotted Greenlaw's boat fishing inside Canada's 200-mile limit and was boarded by Canadian fisheries officers. The prosecution is seeking a $50,000 fine, plus catch seized. The defense is recommending a lesser fine.

An American television crew from Original Productions of Burbank, Calif., were on Greenlaw's Sea Hawk, to film an upcoming NBC-TV series when the skipper was arrested. The crew was filming a yet-to-to-be-named, eight-episode series that will feature swordfishing.

Greenlaw maintained during her trial that, when the patrol plane caught her boat, she was in Canadian waters by mistake. Her crew had been searching for swordfish. She said miles of her fishing lines had been accidentally cut and dragged about five miles into Canadian jurisdiction.

"This line, which is drawn on a piece of paper, you can't see it when you're fishing and working on deck," Greenlaw said of the 200-mile limit outside St. John's provincial court. "There's no fence. There's no blinking lights."

Judge Joe Woodrow said he believed that Greenlaw had made an honest mistake, but he then said it was a mistake a reasonable skipper would not have made, because she should have checked her GPS equipment.

Greenlaw was also convicted on counts of illegally entering Canadian waters as well as illegally fishing there.

The government said it wants Greenlaw to be fined $50,000. Her lawyer is recommending half that amount.

Greenlaw said either decision will hurt her, as well as her crew.

"It's a lot of money. It's a lot of money to be writing a check, to pay the crew or whatever," she said.

"But beyond the money, I've been convicted of two offenses."

Greenlaw noted that she was catching swordfish, a species that has little commercial value in Canada.

Greenlaw is best known as the swordfishing captain who is believed to have had the last contact with the Andrea Gail, which sailed out of Gloucester and went down with all six hands aboard in the so-called "Perfect Storm" of 1991. The tragedy was immortalized in Sebastian Junger's book and the film of the same name. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio portrayed Greenlaw in the film.

Greenlaw survived the gale aboard the 100-foot Hannah Bowden, sister ship of the Andrea Gail. Greenlaw, who was raised in Maine, moved back to that state when she left Gloucester around 2000.

Her books include "The Hungry Ocean," which became a New York Times bestseller. and her most recent work, "Fishermen's Bend," from which she read excerpts at The Bookstore in Gloucester last summer.

Material from the Associated Press and the Canadian Broadcasting Company was used in this report.