From the eel black market to empty jails: CBC Nova Scotia's top investigative stories of 2019

A million-dollar scheme to traffick baby eels and a Nova Scotian's victory over one of the world's largest automakers were some of CBC Nova Scotia's investigative stories that captivated our audience in 2019.

Here is a look back atsome of our top in-depthstories over the past 12 months.

Awriggling, slithering mess

In May 2018, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans busted a man near the N.S.-N.B. border who was attempting to sell 300 kilograms of baby eels worth about $1.3 million on the open market.

Thesting was part of a federal campaign targeting thosewho make millions of dollars every yearsellingeels poached from Nova Scotia's brooks and riversto supply fish farms in Asia. Read the rest of the story here.

Meet Ranulph Hudston, the Volkswagen slayer

When Ranulph Hudston's 2007 Jetta started rusting in 2014, he took his car to a dealer expecting his 12-year corrosion warranty to be honoured.

Some repairs were made, but the rust problem resurfaced in 2017. When he took the vehicle back, the dealer informed himthe corrosion was not the type covered by his warranty.

The Nine Mile River, N.S., man was told that the rust could have come from a number of sources not covered in the warranty, includingtree sap and shoe buckles. Hudston wasn't buying the explanation and took the automaker to small claims court. Find out what happened here.

Cooking up a $3.6M tax fraud scheme

If you've never heard of the cookbook, salad dressing, wig-making, cateringand children's fur coat empire run by Cape Breton'sSaker family, you are not alone.

Yet, according to allegations in search warrant records, the 10 companies under their control claimed to have done $56 million in sales. Butthere's little evidence of the millions in sales claimed by the group. Read how Canada Revenue Agency zeroed in on the alleged fraudsters.

The bigshark-tagging program that nearly didn't happen

Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans was not on board with a proposal fromOcearch of Florida to taggreat white sharks off Nova Scotia last year. It was the group's first effort to obtain theforeign fishing vessel research licence needed to operate in Canadian waters.

The non-profit research organization applied to tag 20 great white sharks off Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in September and October 2018. But DFOwas unconvinced of the value of Ocearch'swork. The process also involved a Seattle lobbying firm and the U.S. State Department.

The organization eventually got permission for its 2018 expedition, subsequentlycapturingand releasingseven great white sharks, all in Mahone Bay, N.S. Read why the federal government was cool to Ocearch's activities inN.S. waters.

Empty cells at Atlantic Canada's youth jails

This July, there were fewer than 30 inmatesin the region's four long-term youth jails secure facilities built to hold 10 times that number.

A few decades ago, these facilities were full,even overcrowded. The decline in numbers began slowly back in 2003, when the Youth Criminal Justice Act came into force.Young people can only be jailed if they commita violent crime, or a crime that would result in a sentence of more than two years for an adult;or if they failed to comply withother sentences in the community and continueto reoffend.

Dwindling numbers of young people living in the region is another factor.

Find out what is being planned for empty buildings designed to hold young offenders.

Why is a bank asking for your password at another bank?

Edmonton resident Paul Kaminskywas stunned when he was asked to provide his account number and password from another bank as he tried to open a new online account with National Bank of Canada.

"Boy, that's a first for me," Kaminsky said.

However, National Bank makes no apologies for requesting the information, saying it "is scrubbed 100 per cent." But other experts urged caution about sharing your login details with anyone, including another bank.

One expert summed up National Bank's procedureas "unprecedented and completely privacy invasive." Read more on the story here.