http://blog.syracuse.com/outdoors/2013/10/four_fishermen_face_felony_cha.html

As long as these fish have commercial value this stuff is inevitable and wide spread.

The more serious problem is that as long as the fish have a universally accepted greater value dead than alive, which a commercial use obviously reinforces (but so do recreational tournaments and dead fish pictures) they will be utilized the optimize the number of dead fish rather than the number of live fish.

I think this is the strongest argument for gamefish status. It will go a long way towards changing the mind set that the only good fish is a dead fish and push both striped bass management and recreational behavior towards a much more conservative position.

AYE

On one side of the arguement, he had the tags, does it really matter that he took them spearfishing, which is selective? They were tagged, which will help him out. Anyone that puts on a suit, and free dives, will tell you it is 100 times harder then catching one on a rod. i cant believe he wasted so much effort, everyone else has been sitting behind the draggers when they slip into the south side, do a short tow and and get their allottment (i think it is 21 this yr). then dump the rest.

That being said, i believe said defendant may have had a few brushes with the law on the same topic except with blackfish, so it will be interesting how it all works out.

Once again a repeat offender
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DEC Press Release

"A group of four fishermen are facing felony charges after they were caught by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Officers with 74 striped bass that they had allegedly illegally speared in waters off Valiant Rock in Block Island Sound, Commissioner Joe Martens announced today.

In late August, the Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) were on a routine patrol from Shinnecock to Fishers Island when they observed three divers with spear guns in hand boarding the fishing vessel Sea Spearit at Valiant Rock in a shallow area East of Gull Island. Upon boarding the vessel, operated by Christopher R. Miller of Montauk, the ECOs found both tagged striped bass and untagged striped bass in coolers. Some of the tagged fish bore the tags belonging to Mr. Miller; others were tagged with tags belonging to Mr. Miller's sister, Tanya J. Miller, who was not present on the ship.

All the fish had spear wounds evident in their gill areas. New York State Environmental Conservation Law forbids the taking of striped bass for commercial purposes by spear due to the fact there is a slot size limit that is hard to determine until the fish are actually in hand, and that this is considered a much easier way to secure a fish whose populations have to be managed in order to ensure the continued viability of the fishing stock.

"Fishing limits were established to maintain a healthy, sustainable striped bass population and violators of this law will be subject to arrest and prosecution," Commissioner Martens said. "When individuals use inappropriate methods to harvest a critical resource like striped bass, they are depleting the fishing stock and penalizing commercial fisherman who play by the rules and harvest fish using appropriate methods."

After ordering the boat back to Montauk, ECOs took possession of the fish and brought them to the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office for weighing, which determined that the total unlawfully harvested striped bass weighed 926.5 pounds, valued at $4,632. Felony charges can be filed in instances where the value of harvested fish exceeds $1,500.

Miller and two of the other divers surrendered on October 4 at State Police Headquarters in Riverside. Their arraignment date is set for Nov. 4 in Southold Town Court.

A warrant was also issued for Peter J. Correale of New Canaan, CT, who is presently out of the country and will be charged at a later date.

All three of the individuals who surrendered were charged with a Class E Felony of taking striped bass for commercial purpose with prohibited spears in excess of $1,500 in value. They were also charged with two violations for taking fish out of slot sized and possessing untagged striped bass.

The individuals facing these charges are:

Ship captain Christopher R. Miller of, Montauk;
Erik A. Oberg of Montauk;
Mica Marder of East Hampton.

Mr. Miller was also charged with a violation for unlawful possession of striped bass tags and failing to display a dive flag as required by the NYS Navigation Law.

On October 2, ECOs also caught Miller off of Montauk Point with three speared striped bass hidden in a compartment on his boat. The total weight of the fish was approximately 100 pounds with a value well over the $250 threshold, making this a misdemeanor under the ECL with a minimum penalty of $5,000.

His court date for this misdemeanor charge is December 4 in East Hampton Town Court.

As soon as I get around to it I'm gonna send it to a reporter who covers fishing for a local newspaper as New Canaan CT is within it's circulation area.

Send a reporter to turtle cove area, just tell him to sit behind draggers in sept/early oct. Its the dumping that is the issue. they should be able to call in to the dec, and have the catch distributed to tag holders....or even more mind blowing, not allow dragging inshore of 3 miles in certain area's (like they do with cod conservation zones). Sorry to get off topic.

east hampton court......he will get a $50.00 fine and not lose his license.

This photo could be the same guy.

http://www.easthamptonstar.com/Outdoors/3/Shiver-Surface

That boat was probably funded by poached fish.
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On one side of the arguement, he had the tags, does it really matter that he took them spearfishing, which is selective? They were tagged, which will help him out. Anyone that puts on a suit, and free dives, will tell you it is 100 times harder then catching one on a rod. i cant believe he wasted so much effort, everyone else has been sitting behind the draggers when they slip into the south side, do a short tow and and get their allottment (i think it is 21 this yr). then dump the rest.

That being said, i believe said defendant may have had a few brushes with the law on the same topic except with blackfish, so it will be interesting how it all works out.

It doesn't say free diving. I agree, that would be more difficult. Scuba diving and spearing would be simple. Crumble up a couple of lobsters and they come in like black tips on a feeding dive. I've had to shoe them away a few times while picking lobsters so they wouldn't try to steel them out of my hands.

This photo could be the same guy.

http://www.easthamptonstar.com/Outdoors/3/Shiver-Surface

I'm pretty sure that's him.

they should confiscate the boat and all their gear.... and sink the friggin thing within site of the dock so that a$$hole can see it whenever he goes down to the water