• F/V Baranof — Owner Romanzof Fishing Co. LLC and operator Reynaldo Rubalcava were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act with failing to maintain a current NMFS-approved flow scale and video monitoring system for Pacific cod. A $15,176 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued.
• F/V Northern Endurance — Owner F/V Northern Endurance LLC and operator Michael McKee II were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson-Stevens Act for discarding IFQ sablefish and rockfish, failing to report discards, and failing to submit Daily Fishing Log sheets to OLE. A $16,500 NOVA was issued.
Since you posted the notice of the fine we were assessed regarding the F/V Baranof's pcod bycatch while pot fishing for black cod, I felt I must respond with some pertinent information about the circumstances of the case. The Baranof caught 300 lbs worth $180 (NMFS own calculations)over a 4-5 month period while black cod fishing. We kept these fish and weighed and reported the weight after weighing on a certified bench scale.
ReplyDeleteBecause of deck layout constraints we are unable to keep the flow scale we use for longlining pcod while pot fishing for black cod.
Keep in mind the flow scale is not legal for black cod catch tabulation! After we caught some pcod as bycatch we reached out to NMFS and after spending considerable amounts of money worked out a system that seemed to allay their fears that were stealing pcod with numerous cameras and a new scale dedicated for this use. After all this we were quite surprised when we received an NOV of $15,000 for this small amount of fish that was in fact weighed and reported..
We requested some relief but were still required to pay $13,000 which still seems a
rather stiff penalty for $180 worth of fish which was recorded and weighed although not on the sacred flow scale. It is interesting to note that the trawler North Star was able to reduce their fine for pollock overage by almost 50% and our reduction was minimal. Oh well that is life in the Alaska fisheries these days if you are in the fixed gear sector.