Eel Poaching in Rhode Island

[DZ]

This is interesting - probably been going on for quite a while.

R.I. Eel Poachers Head to Court


By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff

PROVIDENCE — Two of the four alleged poachers of the pricey American eel had their day in court Friday. George H. Anestis, 41, of Boxborough, Mass., and his father, George J. Anestis, 65, of Phippsburg, Maine, agreed to pay $2,000 fines each and have their nets and traps confiscated for poaching juvenile elver eels from Rhode Island.

State environmental police apprehended the men April 7 as they pulled their catch from eel traps in the Seekonk River in Pawtucket. One of the men carried a bucket containing about 2.5 pounds of elvers as police approached him behind the Apex building. Police also confiscated a large cooler containing elvers in the back of their SUV.

The men were staying at a nearby hotel and told police they had been in the area numerous times to poach the 2- to 4-inch elvers. They admitted seeing other elver poachers in the area. They said they sold their fish for about $1,000 a pound. They wouldn't divulge their buyers' names.

Both were charged with misdemeanor offenses of exceeding the daily catch limit, possession of undersize American eel, fishing without a commercial license and obstruction of migratory fish passage.

Alan L. Beaucage, 37, of Alna, Maine, and Jeremy J. Geroux, 35, of Newcastle, Maine, also were arrested and charged with the same offenses as the Anestises, following an April 14 incident in Pawtucket. Arrest warrants were issued for the arrest of Beaucauge and Geroux for their failure to appear May 10 in Superior Court.

Last month, state environmental police alerted police departments across Rhode Island of the eel poaching problem. Barrington police arrested a Maine resident May 2 suspected a poaching elvers. The suspect was charged with drug possession.

Elvers, also called glass eels, arrive each spring to the East Coast from the Sargasso Sea, in the North Atlantic. The tiny eel migrate inland to freshwater rivers and other inland estuaries, where they live for up to 20 years before returning to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and die. Peak migration season in Rhode Island runs from mid-April to mid-May. Demand in Asia has driven the American eel population to near collapse, according to state environmental officials.

The eels are considered a vital food source for other fish and birds. The American eel is labeled “stressed” due to overharvesting and the loss of habitat.

Maine, South Carolina and Florida allow limited fishing of elvers, while most other Atlantic Coast states prohibit such fishing. Demand in Asia for elvers brings drives the price to more than $2,000 a pound. Maine generated some $40 million in sales of glass eel in 2012.

[zacs]

thats it? $2000 in fines and confiscated gear? talk about a slap on the wrist...

[seadogg]

No kidding. Way to send a message to other would-be criminals. Those #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&s need to be put in jail.
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[The Dad Fisherman]

Wasn't just down in RI


Elver Poachers Arrested in Hampton Falls, NH

CONCORD, N.H. – Two Maine brothers were arrested this morning (Friday, May 3, 2013) in Hampton Falls, N.H., for illegally harvesting young eels (called "glass eels" or "elvers") in a New Hampshire coastal river.

New Hampshire Fish and Game Law Enforcement received information at approximately 5:00 a.m. that two individuals were dipping glass eels in the Hampton Falls River near Route 1 in Hampton Falls, N.H.

N.H. Fish and Game Conservation Officers responded to the scene and found the men leaving the site in possession of illegal glass eels. While being handcuffed, Matthew Kinney, age 29, of Bremen, Maine, resisted. He struck an officer and was pepper-sprayed, then fell into the Hampton Falls River and fled into the nearby marshland. The second man, Justin Kinney, age 35, of Mt. Vernon, Maine, also fled, but was taken back into custody a short time later.

A search commenced for Matthew Kinney, involving Conservation Officers; N.H. State Police; police from the towns of Seabrook, Hampton Falls, and Kensington; K-9 teams from Fish and Game and N.H. State Police; and a N.H. State Police helicopter.

The State Police tracking dog led searchers to Matthew Kinney's location in a rented room in the Hampton Falls Inn. He was taken into custody at 9:15 a.m.

Matthew Kinney has been charged with assaulting a police officer, disobeying a Conservation Officer, resisting arrest, taking American eels less than 6 inches in length, and taking American eels without a harvest permit. Cash bail was set for him at $5,000.

The second man, Justin Kinney has been charged with disobeying a Conservation Officer, hindering apprehension, providing false information to an officer, taking American eels less than 6 inches in length, and taking American eels without a harvest permit. Cash bail was set for him at $2,500.

If cash bail is not posted, the men will be held at the Rockingham House of Corrections until their arraignment on Monday, May 6, 2013, in Seabrook District Court.

A number of incidents of poaching migrating young eels have occurred in the region as the price they bring on foreign markets has escalated. "It is a violation of the law to harvest these young eels in New Hampshire," said Conservation Officer Lt. Michael Eastman of the N.H. Fish and Game Department. "As this incident shows, we are aggressively enforcing that law, and perpetrators will face significant consequences."

No further information is available at this time.

[Nebe]

I really wish they didn't mention the price per pound. This will give people the idea to try to go out and do it themselves.
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[JohnR]

Some deterrent

Squeal hardship and you only get slapped once, lightly, wrist, singular

Was on an Enforcement Advisory board 8 or so years ago and the EPOs stated a judge often looks at these issues as minor and not terribly wrong (compared to say beating a kid) and thus the lax penalties metered out.

[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by Nebe

I really wish they didn't mention the price per pound. This will give people the idea to try to go out and do it themselves.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Great point. I almost choked when I read that...

[DZ]

Us nighttime surfcasters are probably the most likely members to happen upon this poaching when chasing early season bass. Next time you see anyone with dip nets or seines it should raise a red flag - call it in. With that price its like a gold rush.
DZ

[JLH]

Penalties definitely need to be stiffer… With the price per pound these guys are getting a $1-2K fine is little more than a cost of doing business and I can't see it being a big deterrent.

[Redsoxticket]

The charge should be a felony if the market value of any poached or illegally possessed marine life exceeds the state threshold of larceny.
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[PaulS]

Originally Posted by JLH

Penalties definitely need to be stiffer… With the price per pound these guys are getting a $1-2K fine is little more than a cost of doing business and I can't see it being a big deterrent.

Yup, for a certain class of people getting fined/arrested is a cost of business and nothing more. The fine is prob. about 1 nights work.

[Clammer]

I was told about the RI activity / very soon after it happen .

in detail .... one set of guys actually had a detailed map with places marked ..with either their gear was or places to go ........................ I passed the information along / especially to someone that is always around / brackish water / falls / herring .

He called to tell me he was hauling buckies up over a water fall & 2 northerns came to where he was & actually helped him with the herring .
They asked questions & he asked questions & along with getting their plate number .he passed it to the DEM . We don,t know if they ever got busted .

[MakoMike]

They just made eel poaching in ME a felony, RI and all the other states should do the same.

[Nebe]

If its a felony in Maine, it's no surprise the poachers are all coming down here.
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[FishermanTim]

Maybe if they had their "eel" paoched as the price they have to pay?

Most times the fines are small because the judge believes them when they say it was their first time, and that they will never do it again.

Yeah, some judges don't have a lick of smarts.....

[N.ShoreFisher]

if it can happen to Rhinos, it can happen to eels.....speak up and nail poachers to the wall!

[Raven]

on a different note
I read that Viagra will be sold via the internet
on cvs.com providing you have a prescription

rhino horn powder and anything else considered "rejuvenators"
eels included ....are being taken for that purpose

[Rockfish9]

they'll be back in buisness to pay their fines in short order.... on the other hand.. if you shot your neighbors dog because it bit one of your kids... you'd most likely do 10 years....

[Clammer]

not sure but I think the Maine season opened yesterday

[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by Clammer

not sure but I think the Maine season opened yesterday

The Maine season started around March 23rd.

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

The Maine season started around March 23rd.

so Maine has a season for eel poaching?
that isn't good but at least it's a felony in their state
no wonder they go elsewhere.

sad, I guess the days are numbered for the end of the American eel

[Nebe]

Elver has left the building
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[Slipknot]

It should be even more than a felony to buy them
make the law to protect the species by severe penalties and get rid of the demand.

Don't Rhino poachers get shot or something?

[MakoMike]

There is a good argument that catching elvers does less harm to the population than catching the eels we eat and use as bait, since so few of the elvers ever make it to adulthood anyway.

[Mr. Sandman]

It's like this with all fishery management. The punishment is so lame that it becomes an incentive to do it!

"They would not divulge the buyers name"...Hmmm. How about you sit in a cell until you do. Have you boys heard of water-boarding?, its a great game...here, have a seat...

IMO ( and I have told this to fishery officers), if you want to seriously stop illegal fishing of anykind, simply take way the persons right to fish for life on the first offense.
Boom, your done fishing, for good, get a real job. If you did this to a couple high profile fisherman...everyone will fall into line quick. A fine is a waste of time.

[Mr. Sandman]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

There is a good argument that catching elvers does less harm to the population than catching the eels we eat and use as bait, since so few of the elvers ever make it to adulthood anyway.

Your kidding right? Your sounding like a confused DMF person.

No need to protect the small fish because they don't all become big fish. You will have to help me with this advanced logic.


This goes along with some recent statements (some direct quotes) I heard from DMF folks in the last year:

How about we buy back fishing licenses to see if people sell them to us?

How about we tag fish that we keep and not the ones we release?

SB populations are not down from years past, it was just we had too many back then. (seriously)

Those draggers were not probably not fishing in muskegut channel they were probably just cleaning their nets.

We monitor bunker in MA...the populations are down.

It is OK if the bulk of the quota comes from one spot...we have a quota so we don't over fish.

"we have observers, no comm fisherman is taking herring"


"Codfish have been overfished for the last 150 years"

" I sleep good at night"





I have given up on all hope for any kind of future fishery.

[spence]

This thread is giving me some ideas



-spence

[Nebe]

Originally Posted by spence

This thread is giving me some ideas



-spence

Just use sea worms.
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[MakoMike]

Originally Posted by Mr. Sandman

Your kidding right? Your sounding like a confused DMF person.

No need to protect the small fish because they don't all become big fish. You will have to help me with this advanced logic.


This goes along with some recent statements (some direct quotes) I heard from DMF folks in the last year:

How about we buy back fishing licenses to see if people sell them to us?

How about we tag fish that we keep and not the ones we release?

SB populations are not down from years past, it was just we had too many back then. (seriously)

Those draggers were not probably not fishing in muskegut channel they were probably just cleaning their nets.

We monitor bunker in MA...the populations are down.

It is OK if the bulk of the quota comes from one spot...we have a quota so we don't over fish.

"we have observers, no comm fisherman is taking herring"


"Codfish have been overfished for the last 150 years"

" I sleep good at night"





I have given up on all hope for any kind of future fishery.

Simple logic. If (lets just say) one in ten thousand elvers survives to become an adult silver eel, then a fisherman could catch nine thousand elvers and not do as much damage as a bait fisherman catching one adult eel. The real problem with eels is the water turbines that kill thousands of adult (silver) eels when they migrate downstream to spawn.

[spence]

Originally Posted by MakoMike

Simple logic. If (lets just say) one in ten thousand elvers survives to become an adult silver eel, then a fisherman could catch nine thousand elvers and not do as much damage as a bait fisherman catching one adult eel.

Those 9000 elvers aren't just dying of natural causes, most are probably being eaten by natural predators. Remove the 9000 and the natural predators just eat the 1000 that are left.

-spence