$8,250 penalty assessed in sablefish discards case

NOAA's Office of General Counsel reports the following case charged in January:

• F/V Mirage — Owner JJ Mirage LLC and operator Jeffrey Turner were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act with illegally discarding IFQ sablefish caught with fixed gear when any IFQ permit holder aboard held unused sablefish IFQ and with failing to record discard information in their vessel's Daily Fishing Logbook. An $8,250 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued.

Sablefish harvest overage case resolved

The NOAA Office of General Counsel reports resolution of the following case charged in December:

• F/V Lea — IFQ permit holder and owner-operator Robert J. Bateman and owner Laura S. Coleman were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson-Stevens Act with possessing, selling and transporting 5,459 pounds of IFQ sablefish harvested in excess of what the IFQ permit onboard authorized, a 417 percent overage. The proceeds ($11,078.57) of the violation were forfeited by abandonment. A $3,000 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued, and the case settled for $2,700.

$26,500 fine issued over sablefish discards

The NOAA Office of General Counsel reports the following Alaska case charged in September:

• F/V Jean C — Owners Moderation Enterprises Inc., G&W Fish Co., Strom Enterprises LLC, and operators and IFQ permit holders Harley Ethelbah and John Young were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson-Stevens Act with illegally discarding IFQ sablefish caught with fixed gear when an IFQ permit holder onboard held unused sablefish IFQ and with failing to record discard information in the daily fishing log. A $26,500 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued.

Sablefish, halibut fisherman hit with $78K penalty

This federal report to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council includes this enforcement action, among others:

F/V Anita — Owner F/V Anita LLC and operator Jay Gillman were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson-Stevens Act and the Northern Pacific Halibut Act with unlawfully discarding IFQ sablefish and IFQ halibut, failing to report discards, failing to retrieve gear in a timely manner, and failing to register an IFQ fishing trip in the Observer Deploy and Declare System. A $78,250 notice of violation and assessment was issued.

Feds issue $91K penalty in sablefish case

A federal enforcement report presented last week to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council included this item:

F/V Tribute — IFQ permit holder/operator and vessel owners were charged under the Magnuson-Stevens Act for intentionally making false prior notice of landing reports and signing false landing receipts to conceal IFQ sablefish violations. A $91,472.00 NOVA (Notice of Violation and Assessment) was issued. Case pends.

Sitka troopers say crewman lacked license

From the Alaska State Troopers:

Location: Sitka
Type: Crew license
On 5/10/11 Alaska Wildlife Troopers, Sitka Post, contacted Christopher Slaughter, 43, of Ferndale, Wash., working as a crewman onboard the F/V Indigo at an IFQ offload in Sitka. Slaughter did not have a crew license or gear card in possession. Slaughter was cited for failing to obtain a crew license while engaged in a commercial fishery. Bail was set at $260 in Sitka District Court.

Sitka halibut skipper accused of permit violation

From the Alaska State Troopers:

Location: Sitka
Type: Permit required to possess commercially caught fish
On 3/22/11 Kenneth J. Rear, 39, of Sitka, attempted to land IFQ-caught halibut without having a halibut endorsement on the permit card he was landing the halibut under. Rear is also required to have a halibut endorsement on his permit card due to the fact that he is a hired master for the permit he was fishing under. Rear was given a mandatory court date of 4/5/11 at Sitka District Court.

Costs hit $259,265 in IFQ false reporting case

Here's more information on a federal fisheries enforcement case we first reported on June 2:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

July 1, 2009

NOAA Imposes Fine and Penalty for False Reporting in Alaska Fishery

A hired master, vessel owners and permit holders of the Alaskan fishing vessel Trident have agreed to pay more than $18,000 in penalties and $241,000 worth of sanctions for falsely reporting areas fished by the vessel on five trips during 2006 and 2007.

The violations were detected and investigated by the Alaska division of NOAA’s Fisheries Service Office of Law Enforcement, and the charges were brought by NOAA’s Office of General Counsel.

Under the individual fishing quota (IFQ) program, fishermen are allotted specific amounts of halibut and sablefish they may catch in specific areas in order to keep the fish population sustainable. A hired master and permit holders who fished aboard the Trident reported the catches as being taken from more remote areas when they were actually harvested in regulatory areas closer to port.

“These violations affect not only the management of Alaska’s well-managed halibut and sablefish IFQ fisheries, they are also unfair to the fishermen who abide by the rules and fish in the correct areas,” said assistant special agent in charge Ken Hansen of the Alaska division of NOAA’s Fisheries Service Office of Law Enforcement.

Tri Fish LLC and the owners and permit holders of the Trident have agreed to pay $10,000 for falsely reporting areas fished by their vessel. The settlement agreement also suspends vessel owner and permit holder Michael Lang’s Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands sablefish IFQ for the 2010 fishing season and vessel owner and permit holder Barry McKee’s Aleutian Islands sablefish IFQ for 2010.

McKee and Lang also are barred from hiring skippers to fish their IFQ shares for them next year. They will have to be on their boats when their share is fished.

In a separate enforcement action, NOAA’s Office of General Counsel cited IFQ permit holder Richard Swartz for falsely reporting where the vessel fished. Swartz, who is not an owner of the Trident, paid an $8,265 penalty and had 2,000 pounds of his Western Gulf sablefish IFQ suspended for one year.

Permit sanctions against IFQ and quota shares prohibit the harvest of the sanctioned pounds for the fishing year. The estimated value of the sanctions was calculated using current prices of halibut and sablefish.

A third settlement agreement bars vessel operator Kenneth Spjut from serving as the captain of a fishing vessel on the West Coast of the United States for five years. Spjut was the captain and hired master on some, but not all, of the falsely reported trips.