Sea lion rookery transit case settles for $4.5K

NOAA's Office of General Counsel reports the following case resolution:

• F/V Provider — Owner David G. Reutov was charged under the Endangered Species Act with unlawfully transiting through the Sugarloaf Island Steller Sea Lion Rookery Buffer Site. A $5,000 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued, and the case settled for $4,500.

Flow scale, observer case settles

NOAA's Office of General Counsel reports the following case resolution:

• F/V Baranof — Owner Romanzof Fishing Co. LLC and operators Dennis McKibbin, Reynaldo Rubalcava and James Patrick Sjodin were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act in Count 1 with failing to comply with flow scale testing requirements. Romanzof Fishing Co., McKibbin, Rubalcava, Sjodin and crewman Ryan Fuller were charged under the Magnuson-Stevens Act in Count 2 with prohibiting or barring, by refusal of reasonable assistance, an observer from collecting samples or otherwise performing their duties. A $33,500 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued, and the case settled for a total of $26,775. All respondents in Count 1 settled. For Count 2, Romanzof Fishing Co. and McKibbin, Rubalcava and Sjodin settled. The case defaulted against Fuller. A second crewman also was charged in Count 2 but has not yet been served.

$31,500 settlement reached in VMS case

NOAA's Office of General Counsel reports the following case resolution:

• F/V Shemya — Owner Shemya Fisheries II LLC and operator Sean Paul Hovik were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act with failing to comply with vessel monitoring system requirements on 10 trips. A $35,000 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued, and the case settled for $31,500.

Three federal enforcement actions detailed

NOAA's Office of General Counsel reports the following cases charged in June:

• F/V Alaskan Star — Owner Alaskan Star Fisheries LLC and operator James A. Stevens were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act with failing to comply with a NMFS-approved vessel monitoring plan, with interfering with or biasing the sampling procedure employed in the electronic monitoring selection pool, and with failing to comply with reporting and recordkeeping requirements. A $35,500 NOVA (notice of violation and assessment) was issued.

• C/P Constellation — Owner O'Hara Corp. was charged under the Marine Mammal Protection Act with failing to report the incidental mortality and injury of a marine mammal in the course of commercial fishing operations to NMFS within the required 48-hour period. A $3,000 NOVA was issued.

• F/V Ocean Invictus — Owner Ocean Bay Inc., owner Kilokak Inc. and operator Robert Graham were charged jointly and severally under the Magnuson-Stevens Act with exceeding the maximum retainable amount of shortraker rockfish in the Gulf of Alaska. A $1,500 NOVA was issued, and the case settled for $1,350.

Tender captain arrested at Kodiak on DUI charge

Here's a press release from the Alaska State Troopers.

California woman charged in Unalaska meth fatality

Here's a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

One more Bristol Bay fisherman cited

From the Alaska State Troopers:

Location: Kvichak section

Type: Commercial fish closed period, registration

On 7/9/26 Conor Jerome Roland-Chicvara, 36, from Portland, Ore., was cited by the Alaska Wildlife Troopers for commercial fishing during a closed period and commercial fishing prior to 48-hour reregistration waiting period.