NOAA FISHERIES WINS HALIBUT PRE-SORTING CASE

NOAA’s Office of General Counsel for Enforcement and Litigation recently won a court case against owners and operators of the FV Rebecca Irene for pre-sorting of halibut in Alaska. Administrative Law Judge Edwin Bladen has ordered the owners and operators to pay $240,000 in fines. The Rebecca Irene’s fishing permits are also suspended from January 1, 2005 for sixty days. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is an agency of the Department of Commerce.

“Vessel owners and crew that engage in pre-sorting injure the performance of observers and compromise the integrity and accuracy of observer data” said Special Agent Ernest Soper, NOAA Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement – Alaska Division. “Interfering with the observer’s sampling hampers the ability of NOAA Fisheries and the North Pacific Management Council to effectively manage Alaska’s fisheries.”

The Rebecca Irene’s owners and operators were trawling for groundfish during the time of the violations. Halibut are incidentally caught in the trawl fishery. Such ‘bycatch’ is monitored as part of NOAA Fisheries’ fishery observer system, and is controlled by law. NOAA Fisheries relies upon that observer data to assist it in determining and controlling the extent of bycatch of halibut.

The vessel owner, Rebecca Irene Fisheries LLC, and vessel operator Mark Decker were found responsible for the crew’s removal of halibut from the vessel’s conveyor belt prior to the observer having an opportunity to include those halibut in the sampling. They also were found liable for failing to minimize the catch of halibut and for the crew’s actions that impeded the observers’ ability to perform their duties.

NOAA Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement - Dutch Harbor Field Office led the investigation which uncovered violations of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and culminated in Judge Bladen finding the defendants guilty and meting out fines and sanctions.

The owners and operators of the FV Rebecca Irene have until June 28, 2004 to appeal. NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) is dedicated to protecting and preserving our nation’s living marine resources through scientific research, management, enforcement, and the conservation of marine mammals and other protected marine species and their habitat. To learn more about NOAA Fisheries in Alaska, please visit our website at www.fakr.noaa.gov