Tag Archives: no justice
Don Cuddy: Late New Bedford scalloper never got the justice he deserved
It probably passed unnoticed by most people but an obituary for Larry Yacubian appeared in this newspaper on June 13. He died in Punta Gorda, Florida on May 18. But most fishermen still shake their heads when his names come up. I don’t know if he died a bitter man. I hope not, although he had every reason to feel that way after the treatment meted out to him by federal law enforcement. Larry was a New Bedford scalloper and boat owner. In December 1998 his boat, the Independence, was boarded by the Coast Guard while fishing offshore and he was accused of fishing in a closed area. What followed can only be described, euphemistically, as a miscarriage of Justice. The fines imposed on him by an administrative law judge working on behalf of NOAA were so excessive that he was forced to sell his boat, his permits and the Westport farm that had been in his wifes family for 350 years – all this to satisfy the greed of some bad actors who considered themselves above the law because they were carrying a badge. >click to read<20:06
