Maine
Fishermen sentenced in multi-year commercial herring scheme
Nine people, including eight from Maine and one from New Hampshire, have been sentenced in a long-running commercial fishing scheme.
The fishermen pled guilty to underreporting their catch of Atlantic herring, a popular lobster bait, according to U.S. attorneys.
Federal officials said that in a three-year scheme, the owner, captain and crew of a Rockland-based commercial fishing vessel known as the Western Sea knowingly submitted false landings reports to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
According to court records, the crew caught more herring than is typically allowed under weekly federal limits from 2016 to 2019. They sold the excess catch to seafood dealers and some unlicensed processors, and received cash or checks in return. Federal officials said that the Western Sea then concealed the income on tax documents.
The Western Sea owner and crew members will each serve two years of probation and are subject to fines and restitution. Three seafood dealers were sentenced earlier this year in connection with the scheme.