Poacher caught - again!

[Clammer]

I believe that the way the law is written in RI /& the offense committed , that the price to pay ...can,t be that great .I think it has to have a change in the law to get more drastic

[Redsoxticket]

Require poachers to place a permanent glow in the dark sticker near the registration number on the bow of the boat the signifies the owner is a poacher.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[BostonFisher]

Originally Posted by Redsoxticket

Require poachers to place a permanent glow in the dark sticker near the registration number on the bow of the boat the signifies the owner is a poacher.
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Love that idea. Take his boat and all of their tackle and rods too.

I was fishing Boston Harbor a few years ago and these guys next to us were poaching flounder. We explained the regulations to them in case they didn't know (in a not so polite way)... So they started reeling the small fish up on the other side of their boat. My friend wanted to "board them" but instead we called the Env Police. Got the run around at first but finally they got an officer on the line who cared and went over there and busted them with a cooler full of shorts. All they got was a little fine and a scolding.

[FishermanTim]

How about they tatoo a big "P" on his forehead?

But seriously, there has to be some serious deterrent or nothing will change.

What SHOULD happen: If caught as a REPEAT offender, lose license FOREVER and lose all gear related to the act (Boat, transport vehicle, all tackle) and a fine.

What WILL happen: Absolutely nothing! Maybe a small fine and ANOTHER slap on the wrist.

Unless they stiffen th penalties, nothing will ever change.
This jackhole will only pass on the fine to his next charter by "slightly" increasing the price.

I say hit them where it will hurt: take them out of the business entirely and permanently!
(I'm not talking any form of violence, but rather legal action.)

[StriperWriter]

I agree. The penalties need to be severe for a repeat offender, and like DZ mentioned, if they find a hidden box with fish in it, obviously intended for poaching, should be licence revoked for life, either jail time or a huge monetary fine, and all gear taken. I work in a prison, and I gotta say if that guy was in my jail, it'd be hard not to be the hand of justice myself...

[Islander77]

Now see if he was a real commercial guy ie federal that lie wouldbof been ten gs.... Reality lieing to monitors or observers or feds is ten thousand finebfor us.....
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Islander77]

Oh and for the record yes i live in ri fish outta chatham... We rod and reel for bass and tuna as well as gillnet... But we fish mass waters only for bass.... As thumper can tell youvits a different kind of expierience....now the down side.... I make my living on the water not just on nice days... We are not fair weather fisherman... Oh it is blowin and crappy... Oh well it a 4-10 hour ride to the gear... Head down do it... The thing that gets me is how does mass have so many commercial guys??? Seriously chatham has been a fuster cluck to get in or out of lately... All bass guys... Just wondering what they do the other 11months a year to make their money....
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Mike P]

Originally Posted by Islander77

The thing that gets me is how does mass have so many commercial guys??? Seriously chatham has been a fuster cluck to get in or out of lately... All bass guys... Just wondering what they do the other 11months a year to make their money....
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

They work for the phone company, N-star, they teach school, they're doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs, they work in the trades, they sit behind a desk.

Welcome to Massachusetts, where any Tom #^&#^&#^&#^& or Harry can pony up $65 and be a "commercial fisherman".

[Thumper]

Originally Posted by Islander77

Oh and for the record yes i live in ri fish outta chatham... We rod and reel for bass and tuna as well as gillnet... But we fish mass waters only for bass.... As thumper can tell youvits a different kind of expierience....now the down side.... I make my living on the water not just on nice days... We are not fair weather fisherman... Oh it is blowin and crappy... Oh well it a 4-10 hour ride to the gear... Head down do it... The thing that gets me is how does mass have so many commercial guys??? Seriously chatham has been a fuster cluck to get in or out of lately... All bass guys... Just wondering what they do the other 11months a year to make their money....
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

ya man it was a friggen zoo out there. I will tell you what tho nothin beats calling into work and fishing 13 14hrs and goin in the next day with 3rd degree sunburn. Just like mike p and ur paps said every tom, #^&#^&#^&#^& and harry is comm up there. What it came down to that day was fish every troll and ppl just staring like wtf r thoes guys doin?
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

[Joe]

$450 - that's less than half of what a DEM enforcement guy costs state per day in salary, benefits, and the thirty+ years he'll spend in retirement. The only time they catch anyone is when a dime is dropped. BFD - they caught one poacher.

[StriperWriter]

Swimmer, I believe it is punishable by jail time. I took a guy to court one time and his charge on the paperwork read, "Posession of short lobster" so Id imagine it would be the same for fish.

[ProfessorM]

license is way too cheap for out of stater's. Hell you paid for that on a crappy trip with the price this year. I too don't care about time it takes to fill the limit. RI people aren't spending on food and lodging, etc.. I'd bet only a very small minority do as you do. Most just take a short trip over the border, make their $$ and spend all their cash in their own back yard. I guess you can tell I am against out of state use. Heck you may as well buy a summer home up here and become a resident for the summer.

[PaulS]

It must suck to make a living always having to look over your shoulder wondering if your going to get caught, trying to figure out how your going to scam the system, what other sleazy thing you can think of to try to rip someone/something off.

[jmac]

.....but you don't spend the money in MA that you earn from catching fish in MA. Makes no economic sense at all for the state to let out of state commercials fish or sell here, unless they feel the MA commercial fleet by itself could not fill the state's quota. Gives away a significant part of the financial benefit from the state's commercial quota to neighboring states. Hard to see why they allow it.

I think what everybody fails to understand is that there is a reciprocity system in place between MA and RI commercial licensing; it has been in effect for as long as I can remember. Both states fishermen have been fishing/offloading/selling in each others states for years...draggers, ground gear, etc. Before the license moratorium in RI (several years ago, for ALL in state/out of state), MA guys could get a RI license (I know a number of MA guys who hold RI licenses). Back in the 70's, early 80's, everybody in RI sold their catch in MA...better prices than the Pt. Jude Co-op then....we pay the price now because of the way the catch history was used to set up state bass quotas after the commercial moratorium was set aside.

Also, look at the menhaden seining problem in Narragansett Bay....2 boats, both registered and docked in MA (but with RI seine licenses), seine approximately 100,000 lbs a day, each, till the RI biomass is below 50% (like someone is monitoring it)...calculate the dollars earned by both these boats, then tell me about a resource grab....

[Clammer]

JMAC ,

IS CORRECT ON ...BACK IN THE DAY ......... IT TOOK SOME OF US A WHILE TO FIND OR FIGURE OUT on how much we were egtting screwed by the RI dealers . but by the time they shut done commercial back then . I would say 70% of the RI commerciLA WERE GOING TO WESTPORT OR nEW bEDFORD

W OW ..THat was f ed up typing ><><>

Lets start another thread .........rec ,s taking undersize fluke . this thread \\\ has been well beaten ><>><><<><

[Typhoon]

There's a well known story still being hashed out on the South Shore of someone selling illegal bluefin.

They don't %$%$%$%$ around with tuna. He's going to probably lose his boat.

Big fines.

This is how you deal with poaching.

Tuna buys lead to $100k in restaurant fines in Ogunquit | SeacoastOnline.com