Poaching

[Bud Man]

Prompted by stories of poachers hiding blackfish in their pants and hiring runners to transport illegally-caught fish from the water to vehicles, poaching has become a hot topic of discussion in the fishing community following the state’s last Marine Fisheries Commission meeting, when the details of such events were brought to light. Since then, a smattering of media coverage has brought forth more questions than answers about the extent of taking illegal fish in New Jersey.


While there has been much talk of a racial divide in the fish poaching world - often upheld by the undeniable popularity of blackfish for sale at Asian fish markets - the percentages of anglers who take fish illegally – by taking too many fish per day, keeping undersized fish or fishing out of season – remains about constant no matter the race, according to John Barrell, a former Deputy Conservation Officer in Atlantic County.


Barrell, who served for 18 years before the volunteer deputy program was abolished earlier this year over liability concerns, estimates more than half of anglers poach to one extent or another.


“There’s about 40 percent of guys who obey every regulation, and 40 percent who think they’re honest and when fishing is hot and no one is looking, they’ll bend the rules,” said Barrell. “I’d say 20 percent leave the house in the morning knowing they’re going to poach their asses off. They’re going to break every rule they can.”


Still other anglers catch their daily limit of a certain species, head home for a break, and then resume fishing – a practice that is just as illegal as taking more than the legal bag limit to begin with. Some charter boat operators count small children who aren’t even fishing towards the daily bag limit of fish if a tank is overloaded.


“There’s no such thing as a boat limit,” said Barrell.


For some recreational anglers, poached fish get saved in the freezer for the dinner table, but for many others, the fish end up for sale, with restaurants and fish markets buying the illegal catches.


“A lot of seafood restaurants and seafood stores will buy it at the back door because they can mix it with their legal [commercially purchased] fluke and it’s hard for C.O.s to make a case,” said Barrell, adding there is a “definite underground network” of poachers who share information about which establishments are buying fish and how much they are paying per pound.


Unfortunately, enforcement tends to be light, but not because of a lack of long hours put in by state Conservation Officers. Many argue the state’s force of eight full-time C.O.s is too small, with officers from across the state sometimes having to focus their efforts in one location, all at once, to make a single bust. Until February 2009, volunteer deputies – who trained at county police academies and, at their own expense, purchased uniforms and weapons – helped the full-time officers out of a sense of sportsmanship and duty. However, after a fight between an American Indian tribe member and a deputy in a North Jersey forest resulted in the deputy shooting and killing the man (who reportedly attempted to grab the deputy’s gun), state officials put the final nail in the coffin of the program altogether. That left New Jersey’s marine fisheries enforcement staff struggling to police the state’s 1,792 miles of ocean and tidal shoreline.


Some states put a much stronger effort into enforcing fisheries regulations. Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Commission, for example, not only has a large fleet of rigid-hulled inflatable boats to conduct checks on recreational and commercial anglers, but six helicopters operated by a staff of 11 full-time pilots who monitor violations from the air and coordinate enforcement activities on land and on the water with the use of sophisticated cameras and night-vision goggles. By contrast, New Jersey’s Conservation Officers have only a small number of older fiberglass boats at their disposal that aren’t large enough to safely operate in ocean waters. There are no helicopters under the department’s control.


Barrell says he recalls incidents where C.O.s observed poaching but were unable to board the poachers’ boat since the waves had kicked up and the fiberglass hull would have damaged the other boat.


“We probably would have gotten sued,” he said.


The New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Bureau of Law Enforcement is fully-funded by freshwater and hunting license fees – only a small amount of the budget comes from fines from violations – and Barrell argues the combination of a saltwater fishing license and tougher laws may be the answer to solving New Jersey’s poaching woes.


“If there was a license, we could revoke it, and guys who get one violation would know that a second would cause him to lose his right to fish,” said Barrell. An additional benefit would come in the form of a revenue boost for the department through the saltwater licensing fees. “We need a license so they can hire more guys and do more research, and we need to add some backbone to the fines,” Barrell added.


In New Jersey, anglers face fines of $30 for each undersized fish or fish that exceeds a bag limit. The fine is a civil penalty, much like a parking ticket or nonmoving motor vehicle infraction. In Florida, however, taking an undersized fish or exceeding a bag limit is considered a second-level misdemeanor – a criminal infraction similar to a disorderly persons offense in New Jersey – and punishable by a fine of up to $500 and 60 days in jail. A second conviction in three years could land a violator in jail for one year and result in a fine as much as $250. Subsequent convictions also carry a potential one-year jail term and fines of up to $750, plus suspension of fishing privileges through a license suspension for up to three years.
Additionally, party and charter boat captains in the Sunshine State face fines if patrons take illegal fish on their boats. In New Jersey, mates on party boats will often refuse to clean undersized fish, but patrons can choose to keep their own fish to themselves and violate the law if they choose. Captains and mates are only held responsible if they personally filet undersized fish or keep illegally-caught fish themselves.


“Down there, before you even haul a fish over the gunwale, there’s a mate running over and measuring it,” said Barrell. Fish are normally held in a community ice chest with marking noting which customers caught which fish until the boat returns to the dock and the catch can be filleted and distributed back to customers.
There’s no easy answer for New Jersey’s fisheries enforcement woes on the horizon. A review by Jersey Shore Fishing of currently-pending bills in the state legislature shows no measure that would increase penalties for fishing violations, and one bill - sponsored by Senator Christopher “Kip” Bateman [R-Morris, Somerset]that would establish a $15 saltwater fishing license with no direct mention of funding additional enforcement. •


WRITTEN BY DANIEL NEE

[Curmudgeon]

A man's level of integrity is determined by how he conducts himself when no one is looking ...