VANCOUVER -- A B.C. company has been fined thousands of dollars following a guilty plea involving the illegal import of fins from a threatened species of shark. Kiu Yick Trading Co. Ltd. was sentenced to pay a $60,000 in a B.C. court Tuesday, after representatives pleaded guilty to an unlawful import allegation. Environment and Climate Change Canada said in a statement the business plead guilty following a three-year investigation into the company’s alleged importation of several thousand of silky sharks fins. The dried fins, which inspectors say were imported from Hong Kong, were declared when shipped as blue shark fins, according to the ministry. Blue shark fins can be legally shipped without a permit under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), but silky shark fins cannot.