Tag Archives: Montauk
Montauk Fisherman Gets 30 Months for Fraud
Christopher Winkler, 64, whose trawler is called New Age, was convicted last October on one count of federal criminal conspiracy, two counts of mail fraud, and two counts of obstruction of justice. A federal jury was unanimous in finding the evidence convincing that between 2014 and 2017, Mr. Winkler had falsified fishing reports to sell the fluke and black sea bass well in excess of legal limits with a “conservative wholesale valuation” of $750,000, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Last Thursday, Judge Joan M. Azrack of the U.S. Eastern District Court in Central Islip sentenced Mr. Winkler to 30 months in prison with two years’ supervised release. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:24
Long Island Fisherman Sentenced for Role in Fisheries Fraud Conspiracy
A Long Island, New York, fisherman was sentenced yesterday to 30 months in prison and two years of supervised release for his role in a fisheries fraud conspiracy associated with his captainship of the trawler F/V New Age from 2014 to 2017. In October 2023, a jury convicted Christopher Winkler, of Montauk of one count of federal criminal conspiracy, two counts of mail fraud and two counts of obstruction of justice. On at least 200 fishing trips, Winkler targeted summer flounder (fluke) and black sea bass and harvested those fish in excess of quotas and state trip limits. He also falsified Fishing Vessel Trip Reports for those trips. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 12:45
A Renewed Focus on Fresh Fish
Dock to Dish, a restaurant-supported fishery cooperative founded in Montauk in 2012, has new owners and a renewed focus on getting fresh-from-the-boat seafood directly into the kitchens of restaurants across the East End and the New York area. And the fact that most of the owners are also fishermen doesn’t hurt. The six fishing families who own Inlet Seafood in Montauk took over Dock to Dish in November along with K.C. Boyle, who is overseeing day-to-day operations. “The idea is just like the previous iteration of Dock to Dish: Work to source the best ingredients on earth,” Mr. Boyle said Friday while making deliveries in New York City. more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 07:53
Once Sourced Out-of-State, Shrimp From New York Is Becoming a Status Ingredient
When wild shrimp is US-harvested, it’s pulled in-season from the waters off Louisiana, Texas, Florida, and the Carolinas. Increasingly, though, a select number of New York restaurants are embracing local shrimp, highlighting fisheries in and around Montauk. Long Island’s royal red shrimp is caught off Montauk at nearly 3,000 feet. “Their color is a gorgeous, gorgeous dark red; a color I’ve never seen in my life,” says lifelong fisherman, K.C. Boyle. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:42
A Sinking Trawler Is Saved
When Capt. Chuck Morici’s boat was sinking 15 miles from Montauk Point on Nov. 15, he did what people do in 2023: He made a short video. Orange haze from a smoke flare he had thrown in the water swirled around the boat. He pointed the camera below deck to show water, rising rapidly. “There she goes. I just want to cry. We’re going down.” Minutes later, after the Coast Guard had arrived, he made a second video. “You might not like the Coast Guard when they measure your fish, but you sure like them when they show up and save your ass,” he said before panning to a Coast Guardsman descending below deck. “I was fishing next to Capt. Dave Aripotch in heavy currents. I told him I was having trouble and asked him to come pick up my crew. I put them in survival suits immediately. Dave backed up, stern to stern, and he took care of my guys.” >>click to read<< 15:21
Small town fisherman harpooned on federal charges for catch that’s legal in other states: lawyer
The 63-year-old captain of a Montauk, New York, fishing trawler has been convicted of federal conspiracy and fraud charges for violating local fishing rules that his lawyers say are outdated, wasteful and wouldn’t be a crime in other states. A federal jury found Christopher Winkler, who owns the 45-foot trawler named New Age that is based on Long Island’s East End, guilty of five counts last week – two each of mail fraud and obstruction of justice and one more for criminal conspiracy for an overfishing plot that racked up nearly $1 million in proceeds. The problem is, according to his defense, if Winkler had caught the fish in neighboring New Jersey, there likely wouldn’t have been a crime at all. Photos, >>click to read<< 07:53
Federal Jury Convicts Montauk Fisherman
A federal jury convicted a Montauk fisherman on Wednesday of falsifying records in order to sell fluke and black sea bass in quantities that vastly exceeded legal limits. Christopher Winkler, captain of the trawler New Age, was found guilty in federal court in Central Islip on five counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, and obstruction of justice for filing false reports to federal regulators. Bryan and Asa Gosman, both of Montauk, were also initially charged, but the cousins, who are among the owners of Gosman’s Dock in Montauk, cooperated with the prosecution and testified against Mr. Winkler. Each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and were fined. Richard Levitt, an attorney representing Mr. Winkler, said in an email on Wednesday that Mr. Winkler will appeal the conviction. A sentencing date has not been set, he said, nor have sentencing guidelines been determined. >>click to read<< 07:56
Fisherman Convicted in Plot to Sell $900,000 of Illegal Fluke and Bass
A Montauk, N.Y., fisherman accused of vastly exceeding legal limits on how much fluke he could bring ashore was convicted on all charges in a federal court in Central Islip on Wednesday. Chris Winkler, 63, captain of a 45-foot trawler called the F/V New Age, was accused of falsifying records in order to sell illegal fluke, also known as summer flounder, and black sea bass to partners from Gosman’s Dock, a mini-empire of restaurants and shops in Montauk, and dealers in the New Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx. Prosecutors said the over-quota fish was worth nearly $900,000 on the wholesale market. Two cousins from the Gosman family were initially charged — but they flipped and testified against Mr. Winkler, with one claiming he had helped the F/V New Age evade detection by the Coast Guard. Mr. Winkler could face many years in prison on five charges of conspiracy, obstruction and mail fraud, though he is unlikely to receive a lengthy sentence under federal sentencing practices. He was stoic as the verdict was read in court on Wednesday. His lawyer Richard W. Levitt vowed to appeal, and said the case was based on outdated legal limits on fluke fishing. “There is nothing at all rational about this system, but Mr. Winkler and other Long Island fishermen are easy scapegoats for this regulatory insanity,” he said. >>click to read<< 15:28
Montauk Fisherman on Trial for Conspiracy, Fraud Related to Fish Selling Scheme
A Montauk commercial fisherman is standing trial in federal court in Islip on felony charges of fraud and conspiracy related to the sale of what the government says was $850,000 worth of illegally caught fish sold through the well-known wholesale fish market Bob Gosman Co. Federal prosecutors have charged Christoper Winkler, 63, with committing wire fraud and mail fraud by falsifying landing reports to under-report exactly how many fish he had caught and sold on hundreds of fishing trips between 2014 and 2017, and by conspiring with the Gosman’s wholesale company to conceal the source of the fish being sold at New York City wholesale markets. Winkler’s vessel, the NEW AGE, is a relatively small, fire engine red, 45-foot steel-hulled commercial trawler that has fished out of Montauk for more than 30 years. >>click to read<< 17:46
Commercial Fishermen Wary Of Proposed Sanctuary For Hudson Canyon
The Biden Administration has renewed a longstanding proposal,,, Even though most of the Hudson Canyon is about as far from the South Fork as Queens and Brooklyn, commercial and recreational fishermen from East End ports frequent the waters above it, and news of the sanctuary nomination was met with some reflexive concern from commercial fishermen, in particular, who worry that if the designation is made it could lead to them eventually being blocked from fishing in an area critical to their annual harvests. “About 25 percent of what we catch is from there, squid, scup, fluke, a lot of stuff comes out of that area,” said Hank Lackner, one of the owners of Montauk’s largest commercial fishing trawlers, the 94-foot Jason & Danielle. “And for the local fleet, the mid-sized trawlers, that’s the end of their rope — that’s as far as they can go. They don’t have another option.” photos, >click to read< 17:58
Operation One-Way Chandelier – Two members of Gosman family plead guilty in over-quota fish plot
Two members of the Gosman family pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count each of criminal conspiracy for their role, and that of their Montauk company, in an alleged plot to buy over-quota fish from a local trawler captain,,, Bryan and Asa Gosman pleaded guilty to the single conspiracy count,,, A Montauk fisherman also named in the case, Christopher Winkler, has pleaded not guilty. Peter Smith, a Northport attorney for Winkler, said the Montauk trawler-boat captain of the New Age “maintains his innocence.” >click to read< – Gosman’s Market Owners Admit 250K Fish Fraud – The indictments were part of Operation One-Way Chandelier, an ongoing multi-year investigation into fisheries fraud on Long Island being led by NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement. >click to read< 17:47
Amid Hamptons Mansions, East End Fishermen Beat On Against The Tide
On Gosman’s dock in Montauk, seagulls hovering above, I was greeted by the smells of gasoline and fish as I walked on the worn, white-speckled planks. The water looked invitingly blue, and a group of fishermen were readying their vessel for a day’s work. One of the fishermen and I exchanged nods. A cigarette hung from his lips and he wore heavy work gloves, thick orange waders with suspenders and a greasy baseball cap. The romanticized life of Montauk fisherman seeped into my head,,, >click to read< 10:48
Offshore Wind Farms: As turbines rise, small-scale fishermen have the most to lose
David Aripotch is 65, a weathered man with gray hair, just tall enough to see over the helm. He has been fishing for almost a half-century, but he still gets excited every time the net is lifted from the ocean. It’s all the other things that eat at him. The federal fishing quotas that sometimes make him steam as far south as North Carolina to catch fish he can find off Long Island. The mind-boggling expenses of running a fishing boat: $5,000 a month for insurance, $30,000 for a new net, $60,000 for a paint job. Worst of all are the wind farms. “There’s so many things going against you as a commercial fisherman in the United States,” he said. “And now these wind farms, it’s almost like that’s the final nail in the coffin.” >click to read< (2nd article of 2 parts, >part 1<) 09:20
The First Montauk Blessing Of The Fleet Post COVID Brings Great Joy
The message that permeated on every vessel that took part in the first Montauk Blessing of the Fleet post COVID was that it was in fact a blessing it was happening at all. A year ago, the whole country was locking down, so many traditional East End events were canceled, and there was no annual Blessing of the Fleet in Montauk.,, On the F/V Anna Mary, the boat of Captain Anthony Sosinski and Fisherman John “Johnny Loads” Aldridge, family and friends celebrated with cold beverages, pasta salads, chips and dips, and an assortment of tasty home baked cookies. Sosinski displayed his talent of navigating the boat throughout the 75 or so commercial boats of all sizes that paraded from in the Harbor out to the Block Island Sound. Aldridge and his family and friends know what it is to feel God’s mercy. Eight years ago, “Johnny Loads” fell overboard only to be recused the next day by a 
Coast Guard helicopter as almost every commercial Montauk fishing craft was out there searching for him. >click to read< 12:25
Montauk Blessing of the Fleet – This drone footage by Joanna Steidle shows decorated vessels passing by robed clergymen, who give the boats their blessing. Onlookers can be seen gathered on the docks and shoreline. >click to watch<
Two members of Montauk Gossman fish dealer family charged with conspiracy and obstruction
Two Montauk fish dealers, members of the Montauk Gothman family, will be charged with conspiracy and sabotage in a federal court in Central Islip on Wednesday alleging illegally caught fish. Brian, Asa Gosman, and Bob Gosman Dock Inc. will be indicted in the indictment, according to documents submitted to the court of the Central Islip Eastern District Court. Christopher Winkler, a fisherman who allegedly sold Gossman fish caught above legal limits, was charged last week and acquitted of related plots and sabotage, his lawyer Peter of Northport. -Smith said he declined to comment further. >click to read< 18:05
Feds charge Montauk fisherman, Gosmans with violating fishing limits, conspiracy, obstruction
Charged with Conspiracy, Fraud, and Obstruction – Today, a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York unsealed the indictment of one fisherman, a wholesale fish dealer, and two of its managers for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and obstruction in connection with a scheme to illegally overharvest fluke and black sea bass. All four defendants are from Montauk. >click to read< Other stories of F/V New Age, >click here<
Famous boat now calls the Crystal Coast home
The Cricket II was built in 1947 for Captain Frank Mundus who in 1978 Newsweek magazine was called “the most celebrated shark fisherman in the world.” Mundus fished out of Montauk, N.Y. for 50 years, specializing in the hunt for sharks, in particular great white sharks. It was no coincidence that the “Jaws” character, Capt. Quint, bore much resemblance to the real-life Capt. Mundus. Capt. Joe DiBella of Morehead City has quite a history with the Cricket II. Joe says, “My history with the Cricket II began when I was 8 years old. I fished on the Cricket II out of Montauk, N.Y. with my father and first captain Frank Mundus.” >click to read< 10:31
LI fishermen see ‘tough’ days ahead as NYC restaurants back in lockdown
With New York City restaurants back in lockdown, Long Island fishermen once again face the loss of one of the biggest markets for their fish as a choppy 2020 comes to a close. Hank Lackner, who operates the state’s largest commercial trawler, a 93-foot dragger out of Montauk, said he’s already applied for the relief. “It’s been really tough,” said Lackner, adding his revenue is down 40% to 45% this year. “It’s only going to get tougher,” with city restaurants in lockdown, and talk of a bigger statewide pause in January. >click to read< 10:39
Fishing Dragger Struck and Sunk by recreational boat in dense fog near Montauk Inlet
Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound received a report of a collision about a quarter-mile from the inlet at about 6:30 a.m. The commercial fishing vessel F/V Petrel, based out of Montauk, had been hit by the sailing yacht Chaos, a 40-foot powerboat, according to Petty Officer Anthony Pappaly, a Coast Guard public information officer. The crash occurred just north of the Bell buoy, where the commercial fishermen were getting ready to put out their net. The two people aboard the Petrel, the captain and his first mate, were taken aboard the Chaos as their boat began to sink into the harbor. Friends of the commercial fishermen said the other boat was going 30 knots, which is just under 35 miles per hour on the road. >click to read< 13:53
Fishermen Finding Windows Of Opportunity, Necessity Opened By Coronavirus
“Guys are getting creative,” said Edward Warner Jr., a commercial bayman from Hampton Bays. “You have some guys going on the internet and selling and going to the green markets in the city more. Different people are trying different things to make few bucks here and there.” Before the epidemic, the majority of fish landed by local boats was simply packed in waxed cardboard boxes, topped with crushed ice and trucked into New York City’s central seafood market in Hunts Point, Brooklyn.,,, In mid-March, when restaurants and thousands of other businesses were ordered to close, and people scrambled to pack into their homes and venture out as little as possible, prices for fish cratered. >click to read< 12:25
Three rescued from sinking Montauk fishing vessel taking on water
Three crew members were rescued from a Montauk-based fishing vessel that took on water early Wednesday off Fire Island, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The spokesman, P.O. 3rd Class John Hightower, identified the vessel as the 45-foot New Age, based in Montauk, and said its crew sent a distress call at 4:35 a.m., saying they were taking on water about 25 nautical miles south of Fire Island Inlet.>click to read< 17:06
Candidates Face Off for East Hampton Town supervisor and town board
The debate, sponsored by the East Hampton Group for Good Government, saw discussion of a familiar range of topics including the proposed offshore wind farm, affordable housing, the board’s plan to relocate the town’s shellfish hatchery from Montauk to a residential area in Springs, the near-constant traffic to and from East Hampton Airport in the summer months, and other environmental and quality-of-life issues. Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said that “the whole point” of the wind farm “is to shave peak,” or offset electricity demand during peak periods, “and improve resiliency. It does neither.” >click to read< 13:47
Review: “A Speck in the Sea”, A Story of Survival and Rescue by John Aldridge and Anthony Sosinski
Man overboard! Montauk lobsterman John Aldridge only wished someone had shouted out that little missive the summer evening of 2013. But when the skilled sailor (he was a fisherman for two decades) slid off the flat open stern and into the sea while preparing his boat for a night of fishing, the two-man crew was “dead asleep and snoring” in the nose of the boat. The required life vest, a safety must aboard every commercial fishing boat? “We never wear ours,” Aldridge said, recounting his near-drowning almost four years ago. >click to read< 20:53
Inside Montauk’s commercial fishing industry
Montauk is not only the biggest commercial fishing hub in New York, it’s one of the largest in the Northeast.,,, Unlike Gurneys’ or the iconic Shagwong Tavern, Montauk’s commercial fishing boats don’t attract investors eager to keep their businesses afloat, and their property (boats, gear and permits) is not easily transferable from one person to another.,,, John Nolan, his wife, Laurie, and their son John Nolan III are owner-operators of the F/V Seacapture,,, >click to read< 07:35
Montauk Trying To Save Long Island Shore From Wind Farms – Residents are against it and need more support.
July 11, at the Montauk Playhouse just beneath the Montauk Manor there was an open town hall meeting featuring representatives of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management concerning a project to produce 2,400 megawatts of power by 2030 (12 years from now.) The plan is to construct “eventually” clusters of wind farms along the 100-mile south shore of Long Island from 3 to 200 miles out. The project is to start off Montauk. The large hedge fund putting up a reported $560M has tried to frame the debate as “commercial fishermen worried about their fishing grounds versus clean wind power energy,” but that just is not the case. >click to read<07:53
First U.S. Offshore Wind Developer Acts on Fishing Gear
U.S. offshore wind developer Deepwater Wind has adopted a first-of-its-kind procedure designed to prevent impacts to commercial fishing gear from its activities. Deepwater Wind’s Block Island Wind Farm is America’s first offshore wind farm, and the company is currently in active development on utility-scale wind farms to serve Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Maryland. The procedure was developed in close coordination with the commercial fishing industry and is based off extensive feedback from fishermen in ports up and down the Atlantic coast. Deepwater Wind believes that keeping fishermen informed is the key to preventing damage to fishing gear. >click to read<18:19
The Future Of Offshore Wind Farms In The Atlantic
Fishermen are worried about an offshore wind farm proposed 30 miles out in the Atlantic from Montauk, New York, the largest fishing port in the state. They say those wind turbines – and many others that have been proposed – will impact the livelihood of fishermen in New York and New England. Scallop fisherman Chris Scola pulls out of a Montauk marina at 2 a.m. and spends the next two-and-a-half hours motoring to an area about 14 miles out into the Atlantic. Then, with the help of his two-man crew, spends about 10 hours dredging the sea floor for scallops before heading back to port.,,, “It’s not just us in New York. It’s all down the Seaboard. They want projects from Maine all the way down to South Carolina.” click here to read the story 14:57
2nd Round of 2017 Groundfish Assessment Port Meetings Scheduled
The Northeast Fisheries Science Center is coming to a port near you! Join us for the second set of port meetings between August 28 and September 7 to discuss the upcoming groundfish operational stock assessments. These meetings will include an informal explanation of the stock assessment process, the cooperative research program, and ways that your concerns can be addressed by the science center. We’d like to talk to commercial and recreational fishermen. We’re listening to what you have to say. August 28-Narragansett RI, August 30-Montauk, September 6-Portsmouth, September 7- Plymouth. See the full schedule of confirmed meetings. Click here 16:27
NY State, Fishermen Map Out Possible Conflicts At Sea To Help Clear Way For Future Wind Turbines
Commercial fishermen from throughout the South Fork last week pored over nautical charts showing the broad swaths of ocean south of Long Island being considered for future wind energy development by New York State—and saw a lot of the area where they harvest a living. But the state officials who hosted two open-house discussions with fishermen last week, one at Shinnecock Inlet and the other in Montauk, said that is exactly what they wanted the fishermen to point out to them—so they can work to reduce the impact.,, “I think the main concern is that fishermen don’t want to lose any fishing ground,” said Bruce Beckwith, a Montauk draggerman. “For me, I would rather not see anything in the ocean—just leave it the way it is. I have eight grandsons. They might want to go fishing someday. I don’t want to see them be shut out.” click here to read the story 15:48
Series of coral protection hearings planned for New England
Federal fishery managers will hold a host of public hearings in New England and New York about a plan to protect corals in key East Coast fishing areas. The New England Fishery Management Council is hosting seven public hearings about alternatives it is considering about the protection of corals in the Gulf of Maine and Georges Bank. The hearings will take place from May 22 to 25 in Montauk, Narragansett, New Bedford, Gloucester, Portsmouth, and Ellsworth. There will also be a web-based hearing on May 26. The fishery council says it wants to collect feedback from fishermen and other stakeholders about the coral protection Link 21:28
