Tag Archives: Special Agent
North Carolina Commercial Fisherman Pleads Guilty to Illegally Harvesting and Selling Atlantic Striped Bass
The 
announced that today in federal court, James Ralph Craddock, 71, of Manns Harbor, pleaded guilty to federal charges regarding the illegal harvest and sale of Atlantic Striped Bass from federal waters off the coast of North Carolina in 2010. According to information in the public record, in February 2010, a Special Agent with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) received information that commercial trawlers were illegally fishing for Atlantic Striped Bass in federal waters off the coast of North Carolina. A single patrol vessel in the area intercepted one of 17 commercial trawlers in the EEZ, the fishing vessel Lady Samaira, boarded the vessel and found 173 Atlantic Striped Bass. The captain later admitted to taking the fish from the EEZ. Given the other commercial trawlers in the same area, NOAA conducted an analysis of electronic data and written reports from those vessels. Based on its review, NOAA determined that during the North Carolina 20-day ocean trawl season in January/February 2010, Craddock, then Captain of the 74-foot commercial fishing vessel Capt Ralph, harvested over 12,000 pounds of Atlantic Striped Bass. Read the rest here 19:50
Seafood fraud cases plummet as NOAA cuts investigators
In a sprawling warehouse five miles inland from the port of Newark, N.J., Scott Doyle was dwarfed by the metal shipping container that had just arrived from Indonesia and was headed to Maryland. It held 14 tons of pasteurized crabmeat, packed into 28,008 one-pound cans. To Doyle, who has been an investigator for 27 years at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization, the container held mysteries — and the potential for crimes. Read the rest here 20:56
