Tag Archives: Fishing Violations
Illegal Cornwall clam fishermen put public health and honest fishermen’s livelihood at risk for greed
A group of fishermen who illegally fished for high value razor clams by electrocuting them have put the livelihood of honest fishermen at risk, damaged the environment and endangered consumers’ health for greed, a judge said. Luke Anderson, 44, of St. Margarets–at-Cliffe in Kent, Steven Corcoran, 46, from Motherwell in Scotland, Marc Drew, 50, from Mousehole, Graeme Etheridge, 61, of Paul in Cornwall, Jake Richardson, 26, of Bedminster in Dorset, David Thomasson, 52, from Bodmin, Ross Waters, 47, of St Buryan, and Simon Tester, 52, from Canterbury in Kent, were all employed by boat owner David Turner (from Kent) – who is to be sentenced for illegal fishing offences in September. >click to read< 14:40
Snow crab fishermen plead guilty for failing to accurately report catch weight
A number of snow crab fishers pleaded guilty in a P.E.I. court Thursday to violations of the Fisheries Act following a Department of Fisheries and Oceans investigation of landings at a Souris wharf in recent years. A total of 13 people are charged. The three fishermen in court in Georgetown Thursday pleaded guilty to charges of failing to accurately report the weight of their catches of snow crab in accordance with the Fisheries Act. Also pleading guilty was a woman who worked on the dock monitoring crab catches. Court heard the fishers unloaded the catches in Souris between June of 2019 and May of 2020 at Souris wharf. >click to read< 19:12
Alabama Man Cited For Commercial Fishing Violations in Plaquemines Parish
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Enforcement Agents cited an Alabama man for alleged commercial fishing violations in Plaquemines Parish on March 17. Agents cited James R. Owens, 53, of Sumerdale, Alabama, for fishing without a commercial gear license and using shrimp trawls exceeding the size requirements in offshore Louisiana territorial waters. Agents were on a Joint Enforcement Agreement patrol in the Gulf of Mexico inspecting shrimp vessels for Turtle Excluder Device (TED) regulations. They boarded a vessel captained by Owens and found he did not possess commercial gear licenses for each of the four trawls he was actively using. >click to read< 16:00
Dimed Out! Call Leads to the Bust of Commercial Prawn Harvester fishing in a closed area
Hai A. Trinh was found guilty in Powell River Provincial Court for fishing in a closed area of Desolation Sound, retaining undersize prawns, and other violations of the Fisheries Act. The Honourable Justice Leven Wingham ordered the commercial prawn harvester to pay a fine of $30,000 and forfeit the value of his catch, which sold for $12,630. On June 18, 2019, fishery officers received information from the public about a commercial prawn fishing vessel operating in a closed area. >click to read< 17:18
Sealord ordered to forfeit $24 million vessel
The company was also ordered to pay a $24,000 fine in Nelson District Court for trawling in a Benthic Protected Area. Sealord vessel master Bolen Terric Goomes was fined $7500 and first mate Thomas Adrian Pope was fined $5000, MPI reports. They were convicted on one representative charge each, relating to five trawls for the company, three trawls for the skipper and two trawls for the first mate. In addition to the vessel Ocean Dawn being forfeit, the proceeds from the sale of the entire catch taken in the five offending trawls is also forfeit which amounts to $1,12294.13. >click to read< 08:05
New England: Crackdown needed on fishing violations
The local fishing industry has seen itself beset with a seemingly never-ending barrage of challenges during the past few decades. Collapsing fishing stocks, rising fuel prices, and strict government oversight have created an imperfect storm that has decimated what was once a thriving and vibrant industry. Now a new report by the United States Coast Guard has revealed an extensive series of efforts by some to circumnavigate those restrictions,, >click to read< 09:46
Three Charged with Violating Laws Intended to Protect Rebuilding Atlantic Herring Stock
The investigation, which took place during August and September, found that the fishing vessel Western Sea, operated by Glenn Robbins, exceeded the 160,000-pound weekly limit on two occasions. “At a time when regulators have drastically reduced harvest limits to address declining Atlantic herring recruitment, this is an especially egregious violation.”, said Marine Patrol Colonel Jay Carroll.,,, Ethan Chase, 42 of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who also operated Robbins’ vessel, was cited,,, Dealer Dustin Reed, owner of wholesale seafood dealer New Moon Fisheries, has also been charged,,, >click to read< 14:58
Two Mainers, N.H. man cited in landing of too many herring – >click to read<
Skipper appears in court after trawler is escorted to shore
The fishing trawler, the Mestre Bobicha, was escorted to Castletownbere by the LE Samual Beckett,where skipper Jose Ramon Perez Sampedro was charged with fishing with buoys that were not correctly marked, contrary to European fishery regulations. When the vessel was inspected, it was found to have several tonnes of blue shark on board. >click to read< 17:21
Man charged with illegal lobster fishing in Greenwich, Stamford
A 72-year-old Stamford lobsterman has been arrested on hundreds of charges of illegally fishing from 94 lobster traps in the waters of Stamford and Greenwich at the end of last year. Eugene Karbowski, of Cedar Heights Drive, has been charged by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection with 94 counts of fishing untagged lobster parts,,, After his arraignment Tuesday before Judge Bruce Hudock at the Stamford courthouse, Karbowski’s defense attorney Bruce Koffsky said his client has been a lobsterman for decades, back when someone could make a living doing it. Koffsky said.,,, The great lobster die-off in the west end of Long Island Sound in 1997 has thrown the industry into a tailspin and reduced the number of lobstermen in the area from 311 in 1998 to 76 in 2016. >click to read<
Coast Guard issues violations for illegal fishing near Cape Romain
A Coast Guard boarding team issued fishing and safety violations Thursday to a vessel 19 miles east of Cape Romain, South Carolina. The 44-foot fishing vessel The Long Line was found actively laying and retrieving fishing pots in a prohibited area. The Coast Guard Cutter Cormorant noticed The Long Line crew setting their pods Wednesday night and later retrieving the pods Thursday morning. A Cormorant boarding team conducted a living marine resources boarding and cited the crew for failing to comply with area restrictions. >click to read<23:50
McNeill Fishing Ltd., not former president, charged with fishing violations
A story in the Jan. 19 Observer incorrectly reported a recent conviction against McNeill Fishing Ltd. While the company pled guilty and paid $33,598 for some prawn fishing violations on Dec. 18, the story wrongly stated that Michael Stanley McNeill was also convicted personally. The Observer regrets the error. In fact, McNeill was not on either boat, the Mega Bite and the Zomby Woof, when the violations occurred last May near Haida Gwaii and Prince Rupert. He had also stepped down as president of McNeill Fishing Ltd. over a month before. >click to read< 16:36
Opinion: Fishing Violations? Cite Captains and Crew
Two recent high-profile incidents involving Montauk party-fishing boats have drawn attention to a problem on the water in which paying customers take too many or too small fish, while the crews, captains, and vessel owners evade responsibility.,,, It also is interesting to note that the state appears to be finally paying attention to how recreational fishing affects fish stocks. For decades the majority of its enforcement efforts was directed toward commercial harvesters, despite statistics that, in many cases if not all, indicated that sportfishing had an equal or greater impact on the resource. click here to read the op-ed 12:05
UPDATED: Poachers plead guilty to fishing violations after Buzzards Bay arrests
Four men pleaded guilty Monday in Falmouth District Court to fishing violations and paid $1,000 each after being arrested Sunday for illegally taking undersized black sea bass out of season and undersized scup. The four men — Son Nguyen, 38, of Springfield; Hai Nguyen, 45, of Southampton; Lam Nguyen, 42, of Hamden; and Raymond Ung, 52, of Agawam — were taken into custody and brought to the Bourne state police barracks, police said. The vessel, trailer and vehicle were impounded and all fishing gear was seized as evidence. click here to read the story 19:24
Lobsterman tagged for fishing untagged traps, faces 10 year suspension
The Marine Patrol has charged a Hancock County lobsterman, William Haas, 55, of Lamoine, with fishing more lobster traps than authorized, fishing untagged gear and fishing more traps on a trawl than allowed. Under legislation adopted earlier this year, Haas faces a suspension of his license of three to 10 years for fishing 44 more traps than the 800 allowed by law. The new law, LD 575, changed the penalty for fishing over the trap limit from a possible one-year suspension to a mandatory minimum three-year suspension with the possibility of a 10-year suspension. “The law change this past legislative session puts teeth in the penalties,” Department of Marine Resource Commissioner Patrick Keliher said in a statement announcing the charges against Haas last week. click here to read the story 14:31
Terrebonne Parish men cited for shrimping and fishing violations
Four Terrebonne Parish men are accused of illegally trawling for shrimp and fishing for red snapper in two separate incidents this week, according to the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Tracy Trahan, 37, of Houma,and Sterlin Billiot Jr., 22, of Dulac, were charged Wednesday for trawling during a closed shrimp season, agents said. According to the report, the two were caught trawling for shrimp around 11:30 p.m. in a boat without any navigation lights about four miles inside state waters in Terrebonne Bay. Agents seized more than 660 pounds of shrimp, two trawls and Trahan’s boat, according to the news release. Trahan and Billiot were booked Wednesday into the Terrebonne Parish jail. Read the rest here 20:44
Commercial Crabber Fined for Overfishing
California wants a Washington state seafood company fined for the nearly two tons of dead Dungeness crabs it had to dump from a 17-ton haul: far more “dead loss” than can lawfully be taken even with a permit. A California Fish and Wildlife warden found defendant Pacific Dream’s commercial fishing boat, the Renard unloading crab caught in or around Half Moon Bay on Nov. 23, 2014. The captain showed a Dungeness Crab Vessel Permit and acknowledged the dead crabs came from his ship. The warden found 3,850 lbs. of dead crabs and 31,436 lbs. of live crabs. Read the rest here 12:39
Tyaskins man banned permanently from commercial fishing in Maryland
Adam Rodney Antes, 33, of Tyaskin, was found guilty of taking oysters from protected waters over a two year period, over harvesting and harvesting undersized oysters, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. He was assessed 60 points on his tidal fishing license, according to DNR, which is nearly double what is required to trigger the revocation hearing process. On Jan. 11, four days before he was given the revocation, Antes was charged with another eight counts of oyster poaching. Officers set up surveillance on the vessel, Kimberly Dawn, tied up near Bivalve Harbor in Wicomico County, after they acted on a tip. They saw piles of oysters on the boat’s deck, according to DNR. Read the rest here 16:27
Lobster fisherman arrested. Again!
A Summerland Key fisherman arrested in October 2014 for lobster fishing with hundreds of illegal traps was arrested again Thursday for lying on a wildlife form about his marine violation history, according to court records. David Lee Boggs, 51, was ultimately charged with more than 100 counts of misdemeanor fishing without proper tags. Boggs was initially found to be fishing with about 100 untagged traps, but later confessed to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers that he had more in the water that needed to be removed,,, Read the article here 10:04
Norfolk man pleads guilty in Chesapeake illegal-fishing case
A Norfolk man has pleaded guilty to illegal-fishing charges stemming from a sting operation in a part of Deep Creek known for its trophy-sized trout. Bi Chao Chen pleaded guilty Tuesday in General District Court to eight misdemeanors: two counts of gill nets that were longer than permitted; two counts of possession of oversize red drum; and possession over the limit of red drum and speckled trout, improper marking of a gill net and operating a vessel without lights at night. Read the rest here 10:22
Digby Fisheries officers stay busy, seize halibut and scallops and lay numerous charges
Department of Fisheries 
area have had a busy month – since April 10 they have seized halibut in Delaps Cove, scallops at the Digby wharf, and carried out a detailed inspection of the documentation of a fishplant in Delaps Cove. Various infractions – discovered six bags of scallops that had been segregated from the rest of the catch, seized 208 pounds of scallops and have laid charges for an inaccurate hail, fishermen offloading halibut in Delaps Cove without having hailed, found cooked lobster aboard a groundfish dragger, Read the rest here 15:23 [CORRECTION: an earlier version of this story INCORRECTLY said that halibut was seized in Delaps Cove, when in fact the halibut was seized in Parker’s Cove. The Courier regrets the confusion. (1:40 p.m. May 31, 2015)]
Coast Guard terminates charter boat voyage in Buzzards Bay for expired operator license, fishing violations
The Coast Guard terminated the trip of a 23-foot charter vessel today in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, due to an expired operator’s license and evidence of illegal fishing. During a random safety boarding, a crew from Coast Guard Station Woods Hole, Massachusetts, boarded the vessel and discovered the master’s license had expired in 2008. Upon further inspection, the crew found black sea bass which were illegally caught during the off season. Black sea bass season does not open until May 23rd in the State of Massachusetts. Read the rest here 20:47
Friendship lobsterman facing longer license suspension because of new charges
The Maine Department of Marine Resources said James Simmons, 40, of Friendship has been charged with engaging in licensed activities while under suspension and violating conditions of release from jail. Simmons also is awaiting trial on an arson charge in which he is accused of burning down a boat shop that housed a lobster boat in Waldoboro in June 2012. Read the rest here 22:58
Absolutely Fascinating! FWC Division of Law Enforcement Weekly Report – Alligators, Mako’s, Face Book Busted Turkey’s!
This report represents some events the FWC handled over the past week; however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement. BAY COUNTY, Officers Gore and Moore found a vessel with three commercial oystermen harvesting shell stock in a closed area, and it just gets better! Read the rest here! 18:41
Fishermen sentenced to prison following convictions in stone crab trap case
Capt. Romualdo Ricardo Salado, 44, of Stock Island and mate Christopher Joseph Payne, 54, of Miami were both found guilty in March of one count of third-degree felony molestation of another’s stone crab trap by a commercial harvester. County Judge Wayne Miller sentenced Salado to two years and four months in state prison on the trap conviction and 60 days in county jail on the stone crab violation, said Assistant State Attorney Christine Poist. Payne was sentenced to two and a half years in state prison, as well as 60 days in county jail on the stone crab violation. Read the rest here 07:22
Key West charter Captain files change of plea in illegal sale of finfish and lobster case
The last of five Lower Keys fishermen snared last year in a state wildlife case and accused of illegally selling fish to undercover officers will likely plead guilty in Plantation Key on April 9. Key West charter Capt. William Osgood Wickers Jr., 42, of Big Coppitt Key, has a change of plea scheduled before county Judge William Ptomey, according to court records. An earlier report, click here Read the rest here 08:59
Three Louisiana men cited for commercial shark-fishing violations
Agents with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries cited three Louisiana men this weekend for alleged commercial shark-fishing violations off the coast of Grand Isle. According to a press release, Daie Minh Le, 42, of Buras, Hung Van Le, 38, of New Orleans and Thanh Van Le, 52, of Buras, were ticketed for being over the limit of large coastal sharks. Agents on patrol found the men still actively fishing and already in possession of 74 large coastal sharks, the release states. Most of the sharks were black tip sharks, as well as one hammerhead. Read the rest here 10:52
Maine Scallop Fisherman charged with multiple scallop violations
A local scallop fisherman is facing multiple charges after he allegedly dragged for scallops at night in the area of an underwater power cable, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Lucas Lemoine, 33, also is accused of operating his vessel without navigation lights and with possession of undersized scallops, Maine Department of Marine Resources indicated in a prepared statement released Wednesday evening. Read the rest here 10:54
Irish Navy arrests two large British-registered factory trawlers
Two large British-registered “factory” trawlers were arrested approximately 30 miles off the Blasket Islands last night. The first vessel was arrested at approximately 5pm and the second at around 8pm in a joint operation between the Naval Service and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority. They have been detained for suspected “high grading” or selective harvesting of fish in Irish waters. Read the rest here 08:17
12 Eastern Carolina commercial fishermen charged with illegally harvesting and selling Atlantic Striped Bass
Thirteen commercial fishermen in North Carolina and Georgia have been charged in federal court in Raleigh for their role in the illegal harvest and sale and false reporting of approximately 90,000 pounds of Atlantic striped bass from federal waters off the coast of North Carolina during 2009 and 2010, according to the . This investigation began as a result of the U.S. Coast Guard boarding of the fishing vessel Lady Samaira in February 2010, based on a complaint that multiple vessels were fishing Striped Bass illegally. Read the rest here 09:05
Father, Son Charged For Overfishing Summer Flounder in Southampton
A father and son fishing team from Hampton Bays are facing misdemeanor illegal commercialization charges after New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Police Officers (ECOs) caught them violating summer flounder trip limits when their boat returned to port in Southampton late last month. Two ECOs boarded the FV Mary Elizabeth, a 60-foot Stern trawler, when it returned to port on December 22 at the Southampton town dock in Shinnecock Inlet. Read the rest here 16:09
