Alaska commercial fisherman David Negus in Yakutat is facing state residency problems, confirms a report.
Commercial fisherman David Negus was busted for false claims of Alaska residency while a non-resident, the set gillnetter was in March fined $5,000 in Yakutat District Court. The court ahs asked the fishermen to be on five years probation for trying to dodge the higher fees required of non-residents on their commercial fishing permits. But Alaska State Troopers say they’re hauling Negus back into court for making another false claim of residency in order to obtain a subsistence salmon permit.
The information revealed that Negus has the permit which allows him to catch fish for sale or to eat but troopers said that he wanted more to do business. The subsistence permit allows him to catch even more salmon, but only to eat. Subsistence fish cannot be sold. Negus and his wife, Shannon, own Mystic Salmon, a company that custom packs salmon for sale in the Lower 48. Mystic has been touted as a producer of “sustainable salmon.”
The Neguses are even featured in a May PBS program on sustainability. The document shows them as Yakutat residents, but troopers are taking issue with that. Their company lists its address as a post office box in Yakutat, but provides contact numbers for a phone in Alaska and another in Oregon on the company website.
