Tag Archives: accused of

San Francisco D.A. wants a fisherman to pay nearly $1 million over illegal Dungeness crabbing in MPA

A commercial fisherman from Vallejo is accused of illegally catching more than 250 Dungeness crabs at the protected North Farallon Islands State Marine Reserve, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced Friday. On Feb. 11, an unidentified fisherman alerted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife of commercial Dungeness crab traps in the North Farallon Islands State Marine Reserve area, according to a complaint filed by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. Officers from the CDFW then found what appeared to be a line, also called a “string,” of 92 commercial Dungeness crab trap buoys in the southern part of the reserve,,, >click to read< 17:21

Houston restaurateur Bruce Molzan accused of operating illegal seafood network

A well-known Houston restaurateur has been accused of operating an illegal seafood network that allegedly funneled nearly 28,000 pounds of unlawfully-caught finfish through his restaurants. Texas game wardens allege that Bruce Molzan, 59, bought and then sold the illegal finfish off the menus at Ruggles Green and Ruggles Black. Molzan hasn’t been associated with Ruggles Green since 2016 but still owns Ruggles Black. In addition, another restaurant illegally sold shrimp to Molzan for use in his restaurants in violation of commercial fish wholesale regulations, according to investigators.  The illegal catches were made by a web of about a dozen unlicensed commercial fishermen and sold to the restaurants, according to Texas Parks & Wildlife investigators. Their catches consisted primarily of highly-regulated red snapper, along with other protected game fish species, including tuna, amberjack, grouper and red drum. click here to read the story 17:08