Federal officials update enforcement cases

From the NOAA Office of General Counsel:

• F/V American Dynasty — Medic Daniel Craig Azcarate was charged under the Magnuson-Stevens Act with sexually harassing a female fisheries observer. A $36,000 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued, and the case settled for $3,000.

• C/P Cape Horn — Operator Ata Ioapo was charged under the Magnuson-Stevens Act with sexually harassing a female observer by grabbing her buttocks without consent. A $24,000 NOVA was issued, and the case settled for $6,000.

• C/P Cape Horn — Owner Cape Horn Vessel LLC and operator Peter Pack were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson-Stevens Act with fishing in a closed area. A $26,801 NOVA was issued, and the case settled for $26,226.

Feds report a number of enforcement actions

The NOAA Office of General Counsel reports the following Alaska cases charged in May:

• F/V American Dynasty — Medic Daniel Craig Azcarate was charged under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act with sexually harassing a female fisheries observer. A $36,000 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued.

• F/V Alaska Beauty — Owner Jireh Fisheries LLC and operator Curtis Waters were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson-Stevens Act with directed fishing for pollock in an area closed to directed fishing. A $9,249 NOVA was issued, and the case settled for $9,141.50.

• F/V St. Nicholas — Operator Michael Walter Lasiter was charged under the Northern Pacific Halibut Act with fishing for halibut in violation of the annual management measures by possessing onboard a vessel Pacific halibut that has been filleted, mutilated, or otherwise disfigured in any manner. A $8,000 NOVA was issued. The NOVA became a final administrative decision due to default.

Feds bring charges in two halibut cases

The NOAA Office of General Counsel reports two Alaska cases charged in February:

• F/V Miss Linda — Owner/operator Aaron Sutton was charged under the Northern Pacific Halibut Act with failing to return undersized halibut to the sea with a minimum of injury. A $4,400 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued.

• F/V Vigor — Owner/operator Jarl Gustafson and IFQ permit holder Thomas W. Hoffman were charged jointly and severally under the Northern Pacific Halibut Act with IFQ permit holder's failure to be aboard the vessel at all times during the fishing trip. The proceeds ($2,717.18) of the violation were forfeited by abandonment. A $1,000 NOVA was issued, and the case settled for $900.

Feds detail costly enforcement actions

A federal enforcement report submitted to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council includes these case updates:

• F/V Aldebaran — Operator Terry Fisher was charged under the Magnuson‐Stevens Act with assaulting, sexually harassing, and harassing a fisheries observer assigned to his vessel. A $24,000 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued and the case settled for $21,600.

• C/P Bristol Leader — Owner Bristol Leader Fisheries LLC and operator Joseph Pohl were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson‐Stevens Act with two counts of conducting directed fishing for Pacific cod in Steller sea lion protection areas. A $34,425 NOVA was issued, and the case settled for $32,025.

• F/V Magnus Martens — Owner Magnus A. Martens LLC and operator Jeb Phillips were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson‐Stevens Act with operating a vessel in the Bering Sea Pacific cod pot fishery without carrying an operable NMFS‐approved vessel monitoring system and without complying with VMS requirements. A $36,000 NOVA was issued, and the case and the settled for $24,000.

Council thanks Coast Guard for enforcement efforts

Here's the letter.

NMFS discloses costly enforcement actions

A federal enforcement report submitted to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council details several interesting cases, including these:

• F/V Alaskan Lady — In an initial decision issued March 7, 2022, Administrative Law Judge Susan Biro found crewman Eliman S. Bah liable, and imposed a civil penalty of $20,000, for sexually harassing an observer in violation of the Magnuson‐Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson‐Stevens Act). Judge Biro found that Bah harassed the observer both by conduct that had sexual connotations, as well as by otherwise creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment. The judge's decision followed a two‐day hearing that occurred Sept. 1-2, 2021.

• F/V Magnus Martens — Owner Magnus A. Martens LLC and operator Jeb Phillips were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson‐Stevens Act with operating a vessel in the Bering Sea Pacific cod pot fishery without carrying an operable NMFS‐approved vessel monitoring system (VMS) and without complying with VMS requirements. A $36,000 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued.

• F/V Cape Kiwanda — Owner B&N Fisheries Co. and operators Ronald Weyburn Naughton and Cory Dehning were charged jointly and severally under Magnuson‐Stevens Act with exceeding the Rockfish Program maximum retainable amount (MRA) for pollock in the Gulf of Alaska. In Count 1, a $1,099.58 penalty was assessed against B&N Fisheries Co. and operator Ronald Weyburn Naughton for exceeding the MRA by 15,815 pounds (a 2,869 percent overage), worth $1,099.58. In Count 2, a $6,502.86 penalty was assessed against B&N Fisheries Co. and operator Cory Dehning for exceeding the MRA by 43,746 pounds (a 729.1 percent overage), worth $3,502.86. A $7,602.44 NOVA was issued, and the case settled for $6,842.20.

• F/V Silver Lady — Vessel co-owners Hammer & Son LLC and Lonnie R. Chestnut and operator/IFQ permit holder William R. Hammer Jr. were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson‐Stevens Act with unlawfully discarding at least 990 sablefish. A $14,000 NOVA was issued, and the case settled for $12,600.

Two high-dollar enforcement cases disclosed

A federal enforcement report to the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, set to meet June 8-10, includes these items:

• AK1708987 — Bradley Stewart Haynes (vessel owner/vessel operator/IFQ permit holder) and Gregory Beam (IFQ permit holder) were charged under the Northern Pacific Halibut Act and the Magnuson-Stevens Act with IFQ two-area violations and for making false statements. A $195,555.34 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued.

• AK1806496A — A $191,773 Magnuson-Stevens Act NOVA was settled for $177,373. The NOVA charged Bristol Leader Fisheries, LLC and Alaskan Leader Fisheries, LLC (vessel owners) and Curtis Foster (chief engineer) with eight counts of unlawfully making adjustments to the vessel's flow scale.

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.

Report highlights major Alaska enforcement cases

The NOAA Office of Law Enforcement recently released its first-ever annual report.

Go to page 13 for a summary of significant Alaska cases.

More on the Mezirow case

We recently posted an item about an enforcement action against Andrew Mezirow, a member of the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's Advisory Panel.

When contacted about the matter, Mezirow declined to comment for the record.

Here's the case file, which The Brig requested from the court clerk in Seward.

NOAA discloses halibut enforcement cases

These items are taken from a NOAA fisheries enforcement report to the International Pacific Halibut Commission.

• A $64,260 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued to Brian Kandoll, the operator of the F/V Providence, for harvesting 10,344 pounds of halibut in Area 3A and reporting that he harvested that halibut from Area 3B in 2011.

• Nikolai Yakunin was ordered to pay a fine of $3,000 and placed on three years of probation and Kristjansson Laxfoss was ordered to pay a fine of $2,000 and placed on two years of probation for their roles in retaining, processing and transporting halibut with the C/P Lady Gundy and the F/V Wonder Worker without the proper permits.

• A $19,750 NOVA was issued to Christopher Dutton and Aquatic Edge Expeditions for operating a vessel in Area 2C with one or more charter vessel anglers onboard that caught and retained halibut without an original charter halibut permit onboard in August of 2011. The NOVA also included one count of possessing halibut that had been cut into pieces smaller than allowed by regulations.

• A $30,300 NOVA was issued to Sidney Bouschour for operating a vessel in Area 3A with one or more charter vessel anglers onboard that caught and retained halibut without an original charter halibut permit onboard in August of 2011.

E-hotline set up for reporting enforcement abuses

From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:

Sept. 27, 2010

NOAA announces fisheries law enforcement complaint e-hotline

NOAA is committed to improving its communications with its constituents and stakeholders. Issues surrounding law enforcement are sensitive, and fishermen may be afraid to come forward to report problems. NOAA already has a website for the public to provide information involving current investigations or to report possible violations of law, and an enforcement hotline that is operational 24 hours a day, seven days a week, (800) 853-1964.

In order to provide further protection to anyone who has information regarding enforcement improprieties by NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement or enforcement attorneys, NOAA will establish another hotline — this one specifically to report unfair or overzealous enforcement actions or other breaches of conduct by NOAA enforcement agents or attorneys. This enforcement complaint e-hotline will be a link on the NOAA homepage that will allow stakeholders to report any issues to NOAA management through a specific e-mail address, OLE.ComplaintHotline@noaa.gov, that will go directly to NOAA headquarters. Any complaints received will be reviewed at headquarters and, as necessary, investigated further.

This should provide fishermen and other members of the regulated community a mechanism for raising issues about NOAA law enforcement without fear of reprisal. NOAA will evaluate the effectiveness of the enforcement complaint hotline after one year to ensure that it is providing an appropriate outlet for enforcement complaints. If it is not working, NOAA will take additional actions to ensure that if the regulated community has issues with NOAA enforcement, they will be heard.

Big trawl fine among NOAA enforcement cases

At the North Pacific Fishery Management Council's December meeting, federal authorities presented a six-page report listing enforcement cases referred during the year ended Sept. 30, 2009.

Some of the cases on the list remain unresolved as the accused contest the violations.

Others, however, have been settled.

A notable example is an illegal fishing case involving the 296-foot factory trawler Katie Ann, part of the American Seafoods fleet.

Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show that on March 17 of last year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration assessed a civil penalty of $115,219 against the captain of the Katie Ann, Jarl M. Hogseth, and the boat's owner.

Hogseth and the Katie Ann, in March 2007, illegally trawled for Pacific cod in a western Aleutians area reserved for Atka mackerel fishing, the documents say.

To settle the case, Hogseth on April 29 of last year signed an agreement to pay $105,219, with the remaining $10,000 suspended.