Round 2

[hammer4reel]

DEC: Anglers violate fish rules onMontauk partyboatFor the second time in less than a month, state marine enforcement agentshave charged anglers on a Montauk partyboat with violations for undersizedand over-the-limit fish, including more than 1,800 found in unclaimedcoolers, authorities said.The most recent action took place Saturday, when Department ofEnvironmental Conservation officers on patrol in Montauk Harbor boardedthe Viking Starship partyboat after it returned from sea.Recommended for youOfficers inspected each of the 124 fishermen aboard as they offloaded andfound 23 to be in violation, with 26 tickets issued for undersized and over-the-limit Black Sea bass and over-the-limit porgies, said DEC spokesmanBenning DeLaMater. Anglers can possess eight black sea bass 15 inches orlarger and 45 porgies 10 inches or larger under current rules.The boat’s captain, who was not identified, also was cited for an unsecuredsanitation device, DeLaMater said.A further inspection of the boat found the 1,800 additional fish in coolers andbuckets that anglers didn’t claim, DeLaMater said. All the confiscated fishwere donated to charities, he said

Paul Forsberg, operator of the Viking Fleet, denied 1,800 fish were discoveredon the boat.“Those numbers are wrong,” he said. “That is false information.”He said the Viking Fleet goes out of its way to alert anglers aboard its boats ofthe rules, including on fare tickets, at the dock and on placards all over theboats. Crew members alert anglers to undersized fish and won’t clean them,he said.Captains announce regulations each time a boat moves to a new fishing spot.Viking has less than 10 percent noncompliance with fishing rules, Forsbergsaid. The DEC “got it wrong,” Forsberg said.DeLaMater, noting that seven state and one federal officer were at the scene,said there was no mistake. He provided a photo of the coolers on the boat andread from a “significant incident report,” which goes to the DECcommissioner.“This is obviously something we don’t take lightly,” he said.Orla Reville, business manager for Viking, noted that there were 126 aboardand that many of them left without taking their fish because the DEC’sinvestigation on the boat took hours.
“You can’t say every one of those fish was illegal,” Reville said.Last month, DEC officers issued eight tickets and 22 warnings after theyspotted crew aboard another partyboat, the Fin Chaser, throwing “hundredsof pounds” of illegal fish overboard in Montauk Harbor, Newsday reported.The boat was later found to have hundreds more undersized and over-the-limit fish — a combined 1,000 illegal fish in all, authorities said. Fin Chasercaptain Keith Williams, who was issued a violation for an incomplete vesseltrip report, declined to comment.Under current law, partyboat captains are not held responsible for thefishermen and women on their boats “unless DEC officers witness staff takingresponsibility for the catch, assisting with the catch.”


pictures here


http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/dec-charterboat-crew-caught-dumping-illegal-fish-in-montauk-harbor-1.14182469


and just imagine their season is still open, while ours is closed





.

[reason162]

The Viking Fleet are the big boys, not like the clowns caught last week dumping fish. DEC should just post officers on the boat or at the docks...1800 unclaimed fish, over limit on porgies when it's 45 per angler...and people think anglers can police themselves??

[reely]

greed

intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth, power, or food.

[TerriMc223]

Such a waste. I hope the fish donated to charities were edible. Soup kitchens still have to follow basic sanitation and food handling guidelines and if these fish were not iced down they may not be able to use them.

[Gerry Zagorski]

Wow, no wonder some have an opinion of the fishing community as kill everything Neanderthals... It's incidents like this that fuel that line of thinking....

I've seen a huge change in fishermen's attitudes over the years. There are many more people who are much more conservation minded then there were years ago. I'm not saying things like this don't happen any longer but they don't happen as often as they used to...

Not sure about the circles you all travel in but I've noticed a lot more people practicing catch and release. Not that they don't keep some fish for the table, most of us do, but we do it within the law and don't take more then we can use. I've also seen more people go out of their way to make sure and handle fish properly so they can be released and others spend hours trying to revive legal fish they caught and wanted to release.

Recreational Captains, crew and fishermen have defiantly changed over the years and have a much greater respect for the fisheries and conservation then they used to... I know I do and I've witnessed it in a lot of others, many who are here on this site.

Having said all this, I have no issues with people keeping as many fish as they want to within the law. Catch and release is a personal choice each one of us has a right to make and for our own reasons... If however you are denied access to a fishery because of it being closed, that choice has been taken away from you.

[shrimpman steve]

Well said Gerry. Did mom help you with that:)

[Gerry Zagorski]

Well said Gerry. Did mom help you with that:)

Too funny Shrimpy.... Mom always checked my homework, now my wife does. ;)

[TAB95]

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised.

[Down Deep Sportfishing]

Simple solution, a few years back NJ had a stand alone state quota. We were then lumped into a "region" along with NY and other states. It seems there are plenty of fish that other states are enjoying while we are closed here in NJ. Do we wait for the regulators to say after 20 years that " this didn't work"? So give us back what was taken from us and allow us to use our quotas for our state. After all, where is Uncle Chuckie now, and who wants to be associated with bad apples.

[Detour66]

This is truly a shame. There must be big money involved for them to take this risk. I don't think they are keeping them for themselves to eat. So I guess if you catch all the fish you want and get caught you just leave the cooler there and walk away without any or a small penalty. This could give the recreational fishing community a worst reputation to some in the general public than it already does now. Not good!

[baetis]

If tip-ups have to be labeled with a name and address, maybe NY should implement a rule that coolers containing fish must be labeled.

[Flygaff]

I do not at all agree with what these guys are doing but SCREW THE LAWS

[frugalfisherman]

What happened to the "enough is enough" chant. Now everybody is ragging on the protestors.

[mahigold]

This happened again because most walked away scot-free 3 weeks ago. It is ridiculous that the boat and those that abandoned coolers get off. Cant they figure out a more efficient way to catch these guys?????

[dales529]

What happened to the "enough is enough" chant. Now everybody is ragging on the protestors.

IF they were doing it as a protest to make a statement against Bad Regulations I would have less angst. In reality the boat tried to deny it and the anglers ran away without making any statement.

ALL they accomplished was to tarnish recreational fishermen and incite NOAA to further reduce our quota next year with a "non compliance" percentage reduction.

Great job:mad:

[bunker dunker]

it will keep happening until the regs are just.the recs watch as thousands of pounds of fish they can't fish for are unloaded at the co-ops almost everyday.
we all get that comm guys need jobs to but enough is enough.the rec guys send proff,hire their own bio's and still they get nothing.there is a chant of"i'm gonna get mine" going around the rec world and it looks like peeps mean it.

[baetis]

Porgy limits are liberal. Keeping undersized or over the # of limit on porgies ins't a protest, just greed.

[Taxman]

What brings a smile to my face is anybody who has sailed on a party boat knows there is usually a few guys that come crashing down the side of the boat as it is pulling into the slip with their coolers and gear bouncing off people just so they can get off the boat first.

They would have been the ones the law enforcement checked first and caught

The ones on the boat had the chance to see what was going on and were able to forget their cooler in all of the excitment

[Jigman13]

The Viking fleet has been a reliable, successfully and well-run mainstay out east. I have a really hard time believing everything in this article/report is accurate. The Forsbergs, from my my experience and extended experiences of others I know, have run a quality operation for decades. There's gotta be more to this and/or something inaccurately reported. I can't just see the Viking fleet saying f it let's kill and keep everything. I know everyone has their tipping point but there's too much history and reputation here I think for them to go this route. Just my two cents...

[shresearchdude]

the boat is clearly innocent of any wrongdoing-unless you look back at the history of the fleet.

Nov 18, 2008

http://www.27east.com/news/article.cfm/Montauk/181055/Viking

[Flukemeister1]

the boat is clearly innocent of any wrongdoing-unless you look back at the history of the fleet.

Nov 18, 2008

http://www.27east.com/news/article.cfm/Montauk/181055/Viking

They were also fined heavily back in the early 80's for pollution. They had a fuel tank that was leaking into the harbor.

[bunker dunker]

some throw tea some throw fish.all in all same same.

[bigal427]

The boat and crew are as guilty as everyone else. They have to know what's going on.

[frugalfisherman]

some throw tea some throw fish.all in all same same.

These guys should have been writing letters to King George and taking surveys then we wouldn't be a British colony today. God save the Queen!

[reason162]

Lol comparing these filthy poachers to American revolutionaries...welcome to absurdistan.

[Jberg]

So if you are on a party boat and see gross infractions like this what would you do? Tell the Captain or mates, do nothing or take pics and call the DNR?

[BigRock44]

What happened to the "enough is enough" chant. Now everybody is ragging on the protestors.

these "protestors" are nothing more than GREEDY FOOLS, otherwise known as "poachers". reasonable or not, no law would have affected their dishonest behavior. i hope the DEC officers become more proactive in response to these recent crimes. some undercover agents aboard some of these offending vessels in the future might be an idea to explore...

[Cuz]

Montauk is notorious for its negative treatment towards out of town captains. I know captains who went out there to charter their boats and were greeted and treated like garbage. Two had their boats damaged so they couldn't run. If you aren't part of the locals, you will never be accepted. NEVER! That's why I will not go fishing there. Nor will I contribute any money to people that act so discriminate. I always believed fellow fishermen had respect for each other and for the sport, like a team. Not at Montauk. This has been going on for many years.