3 tons of Striped Bass and pay $500 fine?

[Sea Flat]

This story makes me want to puke.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/loc...,5833959.story

Natural Resources Police seized nearly 3 tons of striped bass Sunday from a trawler and charged a Dorchester County seafood processor with illegal commercial fishing in Maryland waters. It was the second time in less than a week that officers had charged Jack C. Colbourne, owner of Colbourne Seafood Inc. in Secretary, with illegal fishing.

Officers boarded the Mount Vernon after watching the 80-foot vessel drag a net about two miles off the Ocean City inlet all day Sunday, according to Sgt. Ken Turner, a police spokesman.

Officers issued citations to Colbourne, 69, Mark H. Bryan, 53, and Bayard Lewis Taylor III, 64, all of East New Market, for fishing between 6 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday, when the season is closed. They are to appear Feb. 22 in Worcester County District Court. The maximum fine is $250 if they plead guilty before their court date and $500 if found guilty by a judge.

[Slipknot]

"The maximum fine is $250 if they plead guilty before their court date and $500 if found guilty by a judge."

that is beyond rediculous
A-holes like that will help ruin the fishery

[The Dad Fisherman]

They need to add a couple of zeros......Thats a joke..No wonder he just lauged at the 1st time he got caught and went and did it again

or maybe $250...per fish would be a good chunk

[FishermanTim]

So if we were to suddenly start poaching stripers, our fine would be, what, about a nickel?
Using this story as a base line for "appropriate fines" for poaching, 5 - 10 cents would be proportionately correct.

It's asinine, plain and simple. Where the hell is the "deterrency factor" if the fine is grossly disproportionate to the amount of fish involved.
Notice that this was the second time in less than a week. That tells me these a$$holes are laughing in the face of the law.

Maybe if the laws regarding illegal fishing were stricter and actually imposed, maybe these poachers would finally get the message.

They should confiscate the boat and everything onboard, and levy a heavier fine than what they have been.
Hit them where they live, and they probably won't be back.

[Sea Flat]

Hopefully this occurrence will help change the rules. I am sure the law was written for Joe Shmoe and $500 if you are going to keep just a few fish out on your 20 foot boat is a lot of money, but for the commercial guys with multiple tons of fish it obviously does not make sense. This guy messed up by making it absolutely obvious that the fine is something he is willing to pay in order to make more money.

[Flaptail]

Guys, the commercial season is open down there now and the only thing they were doing "illegally" was fishing on the closed days.

Remember not all Atlantic states are rod and reel only for commercial striper fishing.

Dollars to donuts that these bass were not that big either. Either Maryland or Virginia has an 18 inch limit commercially, I forget which.

Sucks but it is what it is.

[Slipknot]

what did they do with the fish caught on closed day?

that fine is less than their fuel cost for the day
it's not even a slap on the wrist

they have closed days for a reason and that guy ignores them and pays a pittance and kills more fish than a comm fishing by the rules. that is how simple I see it Flap.

[Clammer]

Maryland has the small size limit ;;

years ago it 12" inMaryland

[PaulS]

The fine prob. isn't enough to pay the salaries and exp. of the DEP guys.

[Slipknot]

"Officers boarded the Mount Vernon after watching the 80-foot vessel drag a net about two miles off the Ocean City inlet all day Sunday, according to Sgt. Ken Turner, a police spokesman."


the officers watched them drag a net all day and waited till then to board them what's wrong with that? Why wait? they should have just boarded them earlier

same old same old

[Joe]

If you started poaching stripers your fine would be zero because you'd never get caught unless you shot your mouth off.

[FishermanTim]

Next they (the poachers) will file a lawsuit that claims that if the officers KNEW they were poaching, why didn't they stop them earlier?
You know that old chestnut about "If you knew I was breaking the law, you should have stopped me earlier".

[Clammer]

yeah Slip that,s what I thought / if they were fishing on a OFF day //as soon as the net went over or at the most the 1st haul / nail them .. But WTF 6000lbs of dead bass ... did they bury them like the old days ;;

[Raven]

filets for the homeless perhaps....
to go along with the venison....

[Christian]

isnt that like $30,000, worth of fish? wonder how many times they did it and didnt get caught.

[Joe]

Prison is expensive. It costs $120 a day to put someone in federal prison. So that's $840 a week, plus health care for him, plus the loss of whatever tax he pays and his employees pay.
If you fine him to the point where he goes under and everyone working for him loses thier jobs, they figure those people are not going to find a new one for a long time.
The cost of prosecution probably did not add up. He probably owned the business and made a living from it, but was cash poor - which is probably why he was poaching. I don't condone it, but locking people up and shutting people down has costs also. We're at the point where every person who becomes unemployed stays that way for a long time.

[blue oyster]

Originally Posted by Slipknot

"Officers boarded the Mount Vernon after watching the 80-foot vessel drag a net about two miles off the Ocean City inlet all day Sunday, according to Sgt. Ken Turner, a police spokesman."


the officers watched them drag a net all day and waited till then to board them what's wrong with that? Why wait? they should have just boarded them earlier

same old same old

i agree with slipknot , such a waste and with the y.o.y being down the last 5 years there are going to be less fish agian , i can smell the late 70's early 80's coming back agian . " history shows agian and agian how nature points out the folly of man " b.o.c.

[jkswimmer]

The limit for bass in the Chesapeek maybe 18" ,but that is in the bay not 2miles out.