Two Special Agents from NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement spent more than 15,000 hours investigating an illegal fishing scheme that was operating off of the coast of North Carolina. Thirty co-conspirators were part of the illicit activity, but only 12 subjects were charged and sentenced in connection to this case, which saw 52 charges in 13 indictments.
The 12 subjects that were prosecuted for illegally harvesting 31,306 pounds of Atlantic striped bass in 2009 and 102,296 pounds in 2010. The annual trawl quota for the entire state of North Carolina is only 160,160 pounds, which means the illegal harvesting of this species reduced the quota available to be caught by honest fishermen.
The sentencing of the 12 subjects collectively resulted in:
- The forfeiture of four vessels. The U.S. Attorney’s Office initially sought forfeiture of 7 vessels. Ultimately, 4 were forfeited and substitute assets in the amount of $124,000 were collected and paid to the U.S. Marshals Service.
- Restitution amounting to $1.23 million. The most egregious conspirator was ordered to pay $653,795. All restitution was paid to the U.S. Treasury.
- Probation from fisheries activities for a total of 38.5 years. The average probation sentence was 3 years. The maximum sentence was 5 years.
- 850 hours of community service. Seven of the 12 conspirators received community service, while three were individually sentenced to 6 months of home confinement.
What was illegally harvested since then? 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018.
Recreational fishermen have been complaining about the alarming decimation of the striped bass fishery for at least the past 8 years….and the ASFMC has contunually turned a blind eye to the problem. It doesn’t require a degree in science to understand that the commercial interests all along the Atlantic coast have been influencing the quotas of the commercial striped bass take and at the same time have had a direct hand in limiting DEC enforcement by shorting DEC funding to that end. The recreational fishermen are at their wits end and organisation and re-active efforts on their part is within sight should the situation continue.
I am glad these criminals were captured and punished. It is not clear why 30 were implicated but only 12 charged and convicted.
At the time of the conviction, the crimes were 8 to 9 years past. It would be useful to know more about the reasons for the delay, as well as what events occurred in the missing years.
15,000 hours is the equivalent of 7.5 person years. That is a LOT of time and money.
None of the criminals went to jail, and apparently none are permanently barred from commercial fishing. If the max time barred was 5 years, and the average 3, then some were barred for only a short time, perhaps none.
Even with all these questions, this is a good-news story!
“It is not clear why 30 were implicated but only 12 charged and convicted.”
Most likely because those were the slam dunk cases. I’d wager that all 12 of these convictions were plea deals.