Tag Archives: sentenced
New Zealand fines Southland fishing company $40,000 – Boat and nets forfeited
Cando Fishing Limited and Campbell David McManaway, 59, were sentenced in the Invercargill District Court today on multiple charges under the Fisheries Act they earlier pleaded guilty to following a successful prosecution by Ministry for Primary Industries. “We believe this aspect of the sentence sends a strong message to all commercial fishers. For the Quota management system to be effective in managing sustainability, all fishing activity needs to be captured correctly or the system won’t account for that activity creating a real threat to the resource through overfishing or incorrect reporting,” says MPI regional manager fisheries compliance, Garreth Jay. As a result of the fisheries convictions the fishing vessel, F/V San Nicholas was forfeited to the Crown along with 32 set nets. >click to read< 07:59
Lobster boat captain jailed 9 months for deaths of 2 men
A Prince Edward Island lobster boat captain has been sentenced to nine months in jail on two counts of dangerous operation of a conveyance causing death. Clarence Barry White will also be prohibited from operating a vessel for three years. White had put his boat on autopilot and was filling out his log book on the water off Beach Point in June 9, 2018, when the vessel struck another fishing boat broadside, killing two of the five people aboard. >click to read< 11:07
Maine Man Sentenced for Making Hoax Distress Call
A Rockland man was sentenced today in federal court for making a hoax distress call, Acting U.S. Attorney Donald E. Clark announced. U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen sentenced Nathan Libby, 32, to time served and three years of supervised release. Libby was also ordered to pay $17,500 in restitution to the U.S. Coast Guard. He pleaded guilty on June 3, 2021. According to court records, on December 3, 2020, while at the Spruce Head Fisherman’s Co-op, Libby communicated a false distress call for a vessel and crew reportedly taking on water in the vicinity of Spruce Head. In response, the Coast Guard initiated a search,,, >click to read< 09:43
Investigators followed up on a lead. Couple on hook for $1,400 bucks for selling recreational caught crab
An eastern Oregon couple has been sentenced to pay $1,200 in restitution after illegally selling recreationally caught crab on the commercial market in Hermiston, according to the Oregon State Police. Shawna and Gerald Wilson of Hermiston also will pay $100 each to the Turn In Poachers Line fund, and they are barred from obtaining a fishing or shellfish license for three years, the East Oregonian reported. State Fish and Wildlife troopers began an investigation after receiving a call on the TIP Line reporting crab advertised for sale on Facebook. >click to read< 10:26
Florida Man Sentenced for Killing Endangered Sawfish
Chad Ponce, a 38-year old commercial fisherman, is facing 2 years probation, 80 hours of community service and a $2,000 fine for killing an endangered smalltooth sawfish. A judge determined this sentence on December 19, 2019, after a joint investigation by NOAA Fisheries and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) confirmed Ponce used a power saw to cut the rostrum (saw or bill) off of the live fish before discarding its body back into the ocean. >click to read< 08:35
New Bedford Fishing Boat Captain Sentenced
The former captain of a New Bedford fishing boat owned by Carlos Rafael, a/k/a “The Codfather,” was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for interfering with a U.S Coast Guard (USCG) inspection of a fishing boat off the Massachusetts coast. Thomas D. Simpson, 57, of South Portland, Maine, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to two years of probation, with the first four months to be served in home confinement with electronic monitoring, and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine. In August 2018, Simpson pleaded guilty to one count of destruction or removal of property subject to seizure and inspection. Simpson was the captain of the fishing vessel Bulldog,,, >click to read<18:04
Maine lobsterman sentenced for trying to ram skiff with 2 men aboard
A Vinalhaven man will serve 45 days in jail for attempting to ram his lobster boat into another boat that was carrying two men. Carl B. Gross, 32, received his sentence this week following a deferred sentencing agreement. As part of the agreement, Gross pleaded guilty to charges of reckless conduct and operating watercraft to endanger, according to court documents. >click to read<21:20
Lower Township man gets 38 years in murder try on boat
A Lower Township man was sentenced to 38 years in prison Thursday in the 2015 attempted murder of a woman on a boat, according to the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office. Ernest P. Davis was convicted in June of attempted murder and aggravated assault of 39-year-old Dorris Howell, of Middle Township’s Whitesboro section. Davis also was convicted of possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose and hindering his own prosecution, according to the Prosecutor’s Office. Davis shot Howell with a shotgun on the fishing vessel Storm on Oct. 3, 2015. click here to read the story 12:31
“This is the stupidest thing I ever did,” ‘Codfather’ is sentenced to 46 months for skirting tax and fishing regulations
Carlos Rafael, the New Bedford, Mass. fishing magnate whose brash business style earned him the nickname “The Codfather,” was sentenced to nearly four years in prison Monday for tax evasion and flouting fishing quotas, a case that could impact the ability of hundreds of fishermen to continue working out of the port where he ran his illicit enterprise. In the federal courthouse in Boston, Rafael, 65, told US District Judge William G. Young he mislabeled more than 700,000 pounds of fish not out of greed, but to protect workers whose jobs were threatened by limits on dwindling cod stocks. click here to read the story 15:04
And just four years ago, we posted this article that should be revisited at this time. Carlos Rafael and His Fish Are the American Dream – click here to read the story.
Owner of One of the Nation’s Largest Commercial Fishing Businesses Sentenced for Falsifying Records & Smuggling Proceeds Abroad, US Justice Dept. click here to read the presser
Crewmember Sentenced in July Bristol Bay Tender Assault, bannished from the fishing grounds
Alaska State Troopers reported the conclusion and conviction of a crewmember that assaulted his captain and a fellow crewmember on the F/V Diligence, a tender that was at the time moored in the Egegik Commercial Fishing District last summer. It was July 3rd that troopers responded to the assault complaint. 54-year-old Don Iodice was placed under arrest on the charge. On July 13th, Iodice was arraigned and by October, he entered a change of plea in the case. He was scheduled to be sentenced in the case on December 15th of last year, But, when the date arrived, Iodice didn’t. A $10,000 bench warrant was issued on January 19th, and Iodice was back in court on March 10th and his warrant was quashed. Five days later, Iodice was sentenced to 360 days with 330 suspended in Naknek District Court and placed on probation for two years. In addition, Iodice was ordered to not return to the fishing grounds in Bristol Bay. Link 17:09
St. George sternman admits to sinking rival’s lobster boat
A St. George man was sentenced Thursday, March 2 to 24 months in prison for sinking a competitor’s lobster boat last summer. Vincent Hilt, 22, pleaded guilty during a hearing in Knox County Unified Court to felony charges of aggravated criminal mischief and felony theft. Hilt is the second person convicted of the Sept.1 sinking of the 36-foot lobster boat Oracle owned by Joshua Hupper of St. George. In January, 21-year-old Devlin Meklin of Warren admitted to the same charges as Hilt and was sentenced to 24 months with all but three months suspended. The case against Hilt’s captain — Alan B. Norwood Jr., 47, of St. George — remains pending in court. Norwood has pleaded not guilty to aggravated criminal mischief for allegedly paying Hilt $500 to sink Hupper’s boat. continue reading the story here 10:54
Fairhaven man sentenced for making hoax distress calls to U.S. Coast Guard
A Fairhaven man was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with sending three false distress messages to the U.S. Coast Guard over the radio. Roger Martin, 47, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to one year of probation and ordered to pay $7,182 in restitution to the U.S. Coast Guard. In August 2016, Martin pleaded guilty to three counts of sending false distress messages to the U.S. Coast Guard and one count of identity fraud. Martin, in three separate calls, claimed that he was on a boat in the Cape Cod Canal that was sinking. During the calls he impersonated a resident of Fairhaven, providing a name, street address and, on one occasion, date of birth. Martin had obtained the date of birth through the improper use of a law enforcement database through his former employment as a Bristol Country Sheriff’s dispatcher. In response to the calls, the U.S. Coast Guard and local law enforcement expended resources ascertaining that there was no true emergency and attempting to track down the hoax caller. Link 12:57
UPDATED! Fisherman Joseph James Landry sentenced to 14 years in killing Phillip Boudreau in lobster dispute
A Cape Breton fisherman has been given a 14-year prison sentence for killing a man he said enraged him after cutting his lobster traps and threatening to burn his home. But the Nova Scotia Supreme Court gave Joseph James Landry about 2 1/2 years credit for time served in custody awaiting trial, meaning he would serve about 11 1/2 years. Landry was convicted by a jury in November of manslaughter in Phillip Boudreau’s death. Read the rest here 12:07
Ketchikan man sentenced for Coast Guardsman assault
A 55-year-old Ketchikan man 
has been sentenced to four years in federal prison and three years of supervised release. Jon William Munhoven, who also spells his name Mundhoven, was sentenced Wednesday in Juneau. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Schmidt sought a 10-year sentence and called Munhoven one of the most violent men he had ever seen in court. Read the rest here 12:38
