Tag Archives: failing to have the proper state license

Judge finds Shinnecock tribe member guilty of illegal fishing

A Southampton Town judge on Wednesday found a Shinnecock Indian Nation member guilty of a single count of failing to have the proper state license to fish for baby eels but found him not guilty on two other counts.  In acquitting former tribal trustee David Taobi Silva of the primary charges of possessing 247 baby eels beyond allowable limits, Town Court Justice Gary Weber found the search and seizure of Silva’s catch by state Department of Environmental officers “was not proven to be constitutional.”  He was found guilty of failing to have a marine commercial food fishing license and the use of a fyke fishing net in the harvest of eels. >click to read<16:36