DEP seizes black sea bass caught out of legal season
 

This one's gonna be good.
:lurk:

did they seize all the fishing equipment while they were at it, if not they should have, dirtballs,

Wow thats Crazy all out of season Black seabass Im sure they seized alot of the gear!!

Gear would be chump change compared to the fines and the income from the sale of the fish. A few $150 fishing outfits would be my guess.

I'll bet that is more widely practiced on head boats than reported: once on board it stays on board! And who counts? Except for those damn dogfish.....

800 plus illegal fish caught on that boat in one trip with no effort by the captain or crew to stop it. Seems to me the blame starts there at the top and goes down hill to the individual fisherman.

He acknowledge that he did see fishermen keeping black see bass, but said, “I didn’t think it was that many. And I’m not getting paid by the state of New Jersey to take fish out of people’s buckets.”

What an attitude. Confiscate the boat just to send a loud clear message.

When I saw this statement I thought the same thing. Maybe not take the boat but pull his license to operate a party boat. He more or less said screw the state and fishery regulations, all I'm interested in is the money.

It's great they put not only his pic up but the boat also . Not so good for bookings . It's a shame that whatever the fines and such will be it wont be enough . They need to make strong examples of idiots like this so maybe it will act as a deterent for the rest of these people
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Any party boat I have been on will not let you keep shorts or other off season fish! He is responsible for who ever and what ever people do when on his boat!!
I am on my boat.

no he is [B]NOT[B] legally responsible for what paying fares do on his boat. He posted signs and informed the anglers at the beginning of the trip that sea bass were out of season. He is not empowered or required to enforce the regs. He did what he is supposed to do and the individuals who elected to violate the regs are the ones who should pay the price.

You really believe that the mates didn't notice someone w/ 100+ sea-bass in their cooler and at least off hand didn't say, 'Ah Cap....'

they are all indirectly culpable.

On the plus side, this is why Blount pushed for a fillet law, to curb this happening on the PB's coming in and out of Snug this winter....

Pretty sure I know one of the mates on the boat. Waiting for an email back.

So what if they did? They and the Capt. are not legally empowered to enforce the law. Do you call a cop every time you see someone blow a red light or a stop sign? The fact that the DEP did not cite the Captain, just proves my point.

No, but IF they knew what was going on, he damn well should have called DEP himself to have them waiting at the dock.

That defense didn't work for Joe Paterno.....

You Know...the Whole "Moral Obligation" Thing

So what you are saying is that if you had a charter and the guys started keeping 16" bass you wouldn't say anything????

Are Charters/headboats really not responsible for the fish that people on their vessels keep and can feign ignorance?

Rulers?
We don't need no stinking rulers!
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

So turning a blind eye and allowing scum bags to poach is acceptable because they can't make the arrest? Nice logic dude. What a joke.

a good partyboat and captain will make an effort to make sure the patrons are not poaching. a #^&#^&#^&#^&ty one will turn a blind eye to it. if you are a good boat and mind the rules you will lose some business from the poaching crowd (who wants to fish w/ them anyway) but end up w/ decent regulars and a good rep. the boat i winter codfish on has a mate that goes through all the coolers and checks all the whole fish going home - if they are short/out of season they get tossed over. there will always be fishermen who skirt the rules - eff them and the boats that allow this

Capt of the boat is also responsible. Just like the operator of a vehicle is responsible for everything that happens in their car.
what if the passengers were raping someone, is that ok to not say anything?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Never been on one, but I would be astounded if a Captain of a party boat wasn't ultimately responsible for customers behaving in a legal manner on board especially considering fishing licenses and catch limits. That there seems to have been full awareness yet no move to counter says a lot about the boat.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

I would agree with Mike if it was a few fish here and there, but we aren't talking about someone sneaking a BSB or two into their cooler.... 108 fish!

It is too much. It isn't looking the other way on a fish it is allowing - on your boat - significant violation of the rules as the apply to the people you are bringing to the fish. And he profited by it.

As a captain of a vessel you are ultimately resposible for everything that goes on onboard your vessel..... that includes the safety of your passengers and violations of the law.. ..this includes reporting known violations.. these people are fishing on YOUR permits.. this one will end up in court.. we'll see what a judge has to say...

I'd say everybody is responsible....108 fish!? Who doesn't notice that :/

Do you allow your fares to poach?

Seems like all he needs to do is advise them of what the limits are and then turn a blind eye.

We have a Bingo!!!!

Our representatives are fighting hard for more reasonable sea bass regulations and this #^&#^&#^&#^& bag of a captain is out blatantly ignoring the rules. He needs to loose his license and be run out of the business. He is the problem.

I hope and pray he isn't related to RFA Lawyer with he same last name.

The fact that some people have posted this charter captain has no responsibility for what was caught on his vessel is yet another statement on how #^&#^&#^&#^&ed up the American mentality has become. This is why our country is going to hell in a hand basket.

No it won't wind up in court as the Captain wasn't cited for anything. Eveidently the NJ DEP knows the law better than you do! :smash:

And for all those that asked, no I do not allow poaching on my boat, but that is a personal decision to go above and beyond what I am required to do by law.

On a party boat what could the captain do? He can't force the offenders to release the fish. I'd wager that the fish were destined to be sold and weren't cleaned by the crew. We don't know where the "tip" came from, it could have been from the Captain for all we know.

So when 'M____' or one of the other boats out of Galilee got popped for taking short blackfish, the fares got fined and not the Captain?

that's not what I heard.

Again. 1 or 2 fish, no big deal.
108 fish in one cooler?!? the Captain/Mate knew and should have called DEP himself.

How is this even up for debate? A Captain should not ignore customers breaking the law aboard his boat. Fail.

what would you have him do, forcibly remove the fish from the customers coolers? This is a party boat, he can't threaten to cut the trip short and return to port, like I would do for a private charter.

You're killing me here Mike. I feel like a broken record.
If he knew this was going on, do you think he should have called DEP himself and had them waiting at the dock?

I think that is the least they could have done. Otherwise, to me, it looks like they turned a blind eye and probably got a nice tip from those guys.

for what it's worth, running the tour boat, if 1 passenger got out of hand (i.e. #^&#^&#^&#^&faced drunk, or the time we had a kid rip bottles of booze right off the bar during a charter), I went back to the dock early. They had to explain firsthand to the other people (and in the kids case, his parents and coach) why the trip was over so suddenly at the captains discretion!

Maybe he could have said....You cannot keep illegal fish on this boat. Stop catching them , throw what you have overboard or the DEP will be waiting at the dock for you when we return.

Gee , that's pretty simple isn't it?

If over 2/3rds the catch is an out of season species, hard to say the capt. wasn't targeting them.

The DEP was not on his boat under cover cause this was his first time!!
This boat has been doing it for a while I am sure, or why else they watching him??

You really need to reread R&R on having a ticket. The captain IS responsible for him, his crew, and his fares observing all applicable laws. Thats by the letter, not by "what you feel like it means".