Thomas Kokell – fisherynation.com

Tag Archives: Thomas Kokell

Big News! Fed charges against Northport fisherman are dismissed

September 5, 2019 Mid Atlantic

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday moved to formally dismiss wire-fraud and conspiracy charges against a Northport fisherman who last year entered a one-year deferred prosecution agreement with the federal government following a multi-year fisheries fraud investigation. At the same time, the star witness in the case against that fisherman faces a government-recommended 46 months in prison, according to court records. >click to read< 09:06

Comment

Former skipper gets deferred-prosecution deal in fisheries case

August 16, 2018 Mid Atlantic

Thomas Kokell, a former commercial trawler-boat captain, was indicted in 2016 on four counts of mail fraud, conspiracy and filing false fishing reports in connection with an alleged scheme to illegally harvest nearly 200,000 pounds of fluke in 2011 and 2012. The fish were valued at nearly $400,000. Kokell was released Tuesday on his own recognizance after a court appearance in which the deal was approved by a federal judge, according to federal court documents and Kokell’s attorney. He will not enter a plea and the charges will be dismissed, avoiding prison time and fines, if he “avoids future misconduct” over the next year, according to his attorney Peter Smith and court documents. >click to read<07:56

Comment

Mistrial declared in case alleging illegal fluke fishing

March 7, 2018 Mid Atlantic

A federal judge in Central Islip has declared a mistrial in the case of an East Northport fisherman charged with illegally harvesting $400,000 worth of fluke. After three days of deliberations, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the case of Thomas Kokell, who was charged in a multicount indictment of falsifying federal fishing records, wire and mail fraud. U.S. District Court Judge Joseph F. Bianco declared a mistrial on Monday. Kokell, who pleaded not guilty, was the first Long Island fisherman to demand a court trial in the ongoing federal fisheries probe,,,>click to read< 09:27

Comment

Fisherman’s case yields complicated evidence trail

February 24, 2018 Mid Atlantic

The federal trial of Thomas Kokell features a trail of evidence including hand-scrawled freight tickets and fishing-trip reports. Stacks of paper slips have cluttered a U.S. courtroom in Central Islip over the past two weeks, a multicolored trail of evidence in the first major criminal trial of a Long Island fisherman charged in a probe of alleged illegal fishing.,,, The charges stem from a five-year federal probe of an auction program that let fishermen harvest beyond their quotas. The investigation has netted seven guilty pleas and prison or home-detention sentences for five other people. One of the men who pleaded guilty is Mark Parente, a fish dealer from New Jersey,,, >click to read<11:16

Comment

Report detailing enforcement abuses barred from fisherman’s trial

January 27, 2018 Mid Atlantic

The first criminal trial of a Long Island fisherman charged in connection with a federal probe of a controversial fish-auction program is set to begin, but a report detailing fisheries enforcement abuses by the government has been barred from the trial. Lawyers for Northport fisherman Thomas Kokell, charged in a multi-count indictment with overharvesting fluke, argued in pretrial motions that a 2010 federal inspector general’s report detailing abuses and “overzealousness” by the National Marine Fisheries Service was vital to the defense. >click here to read< 21:35

Comment

LI fisherman indicted in connection with illegal fluke harvest

November 23, 2016 Mid Atlantic

An East Northport commercial fisherman who was once an outspoken critic of federal regulators was indicted Tuesday on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud and falsification of federal records in connection with illegally harvest more than $400,000 worth of fluke, authorities said. A federal grand jury returned the indictment against Thomas Kokell, a North Shore clammer who once operated a commercial trawler at Point Lookout. Prosecutors with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes section charged Kokell was involved in a scheme to cover up the illegal harvest of 196,000 pounds of fluke by falsifying dozens of fishing trip and dealer reports, which are required as part of commercial fishing regulations. The case against Kokell was investigated by agents of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Read the rest here 09:39

Comment

Ocean Resource Privatization

Articles Posted by Date
December 2024

M T W T F S S

1

2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15

16 17 18 19 20 21 22

23 24 25 26 27 28 29

30 31

« Nov

December 2024
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

The New England groundfish debacle (Part III): who or what is at fault? Nils E. Stolpe/FishNet

It took me a while to decide how to most accurately describe the situation that has been visited upon the New England fishing communities that are and since colonial times have been dependent on the groundfish fisheries.

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

Recent Posts
- Reconstruction of North Bulkhead in Port of Galilee to continue into 2021
  
  The state recently started a $5.2 million project to rehabilitate three commercial fishing piers in the Port of Galilee that are berths for the largest vessels, Read More »
- Mr. Common Resources, Meet “Miss-Management”
  
  The contradictions in redundant multi-agency management and layers of regulation of common resources have made management paralyzed. The need for management revision stretches across the entire Read More »
- Sizes up, landings down for tuna fleet – “The availability of really big fish seems to be higher than the last couple years,”
  
  The evidence that this year’s stock includes larger fish also was strengthened by the fact that one local tuna captain recently hauled in a bluefin that Read More »
- Sackton: NMFS, DOC to blame for 38% drop in New England haddock revenue since 2011,- (And their ecoevangelical ENGO’s masters are too!)
  
  We have been struck by the success of the recent Canadian winter haddock season. In January, in just a few ports in Nova Scotia, Canadian boats Read More »
- Two From Alaska Fish Radio
  
  Apply now for wide range of good paying internships at ADF&G – This is Fish Radio. I’m Laine Welch – Your career in the Last Frontier Read More »
- Asian carp may be back in Lake Erie, scientists worry
  
  Is the dreaded Asian carp swimming in Lake Erie again? It’s a mystery as big as the lake. The question terrifies several agencies in the U.S. Read More »
- Bristol Bay floating fish processor back at full capacity after fire
  
  The Hannah, operated by startup Northline Seafoods, arrived in the region earlier this year. It uses super-cold spiral freezers to quickly freeze fish and then store Read More »
- Peter Pan Seafoods to require employees to be vaccinated
  
  A seafood processing company with operations in Alaska and Washington state will require its employees to be vaccinated,,, The policy will be enacted in tiers. The Read More »
- Tugboat Rex is back in service
  
  Ralph Criteser donated his trusty tugboat to the Port of Toledo when he closed down his moorage on the Yaquina River in early 2019. At his Read More »
- Athearn Marine Agency Boat of the Week: 49′ 6″ Fiberglass/Wood Lobster/Gillnetter, Cummins 855
  
  To review specifications, information, and 28 photos, >click here<, To see all the boats in this series >click here<11:21 Read More »
- Sternman Larry S. Cromwell of Westport Island, Me., has passed away
  
  Larry S. Cromwell, 62, of Westport Island, passed away on Oct. 11, 2023, with his family by his side following a long struggle with cancer. He Read More »
- FWC nabs lobster poaching brothers in the Card Sound Lobster Sanctuary
  
  Two commercial fishermen — brothers from Homestead — with a history of fisheries violations were nabbed by state wildlife officers Sunday afternoon poaching lobster in the Read More »
- Despite war ban, Russian seafood could enter the US anyway
  
  Fishing is big business in Russia, one closely linked to the Kremlin and President Vladimir Putin’s projection of power at sea. The country is one of Read More »
- Speaker Atkins’ Pacific to Plate Bill signed by Gov. Brown
  
  Seafood markets will be allowed to operate in the public square just like farmers markets, now that Gov. Jerry Brown has signed Assembly Speaker Toni G. Read More »
- Stonington 67th Annual Blessing of the Fleet will go on despite Coronavirus pandemic
  
  The 67th annual Blessing of the Fleet with not be a casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike other traditional events across the region that have been Read More »
- Co-op boss slams reports of exploited fishermen
  
  A West Cork fisheries spokesman has rubbished reports that there is widespread exploitation of immigrants in the fishing industry. The manager of Castletownbere Fishermen’s Co-op, John Read More »
- Bankruptcy fears after fishermen lose prawn fishing grounds so cable can be laid in North Sea
  
  North East fishermen say they will be left “bankrupt” after losing their prawn fishing grounds to a cable being laid across the North Sea. The Havhingston Read More »
- Statements about fisheries incorrect. To say that west coast salmon stocks are over fished is absolutely ludicrous.
  
  To say that I’m disappointed in what Dr. Rashid Sumalia had to say about Marine Protected Areas is a gross understatement. Dr. Sumalia was very quick Read More »
- Updated: Reclamation reverses course on water for Klamath River
  
  Water release from Trinity Reservoir will begin Saturday, Aug. 23, at 7 a.m.; Public urged to take safety precautions on or near the river while flows Read More »
- Maine’s lobster industry needs your help
  
  A little over a week ago, we saw more than a thousand lobstermen flood the Stonington commercial pier. Almost the entire Maine delegation attended in person Read More »
- Company touts benefits of micro nuclear reactors for rural Alaska
  
  Alaskans looking for clean, safe energy sources should consider nuclear power, according to a company that is working on developing a micro nuclear reactor it says Read More »
- Bristol Bay fishermen protest processors’ low sockeye market price — 50 cents per pound
  
  Some Bristol Bay fishermen are furious over the 50 cent per pound market price for sockeye salmon that Bristol Bay processors are hitting them with. Now Read More »
- A California dilemma: Save the whales or eat the crabs?
  
  I had always assumed Californians loved whales, and that measures to save the gigantic, federally protected creatures would be universally applauded. I was wrong. “There are Read More »
- On the Fisheries Broadcast @ 16:30 today, NH Groundfisherman David Goethel
  
  Jamie Baker and Dave discusses the Gulf of Maine cod situation. Click here for the link. At the top, click Listen, then click listen live, Radio Read More »
- Govt considering ditching fishing boat camera plans
  
  The government is considering scrapping the rollout of cameras on commercial fishing vessels altogether. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash said many in the fishing industry were unhappy with Read More »