It is reported that nearly 600,000 pounds of rockfish with a retail value of between $3 million and $7 million were handled by a ring that trafficked fish from the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River. The officials have charged nine people after a four-year undercover probe that authorities called the largest-ever investigation of illegal commercial fishing in the area.
The prosecutors informed that the group included fishermen and the owner of a seafood market in Georgetown. State fisheries officials in Virginia and Maryland told that they had not been told how many rockfish the group allegedly took, adding that the Chesapeake’s population of rockfish. The fish is a rare success story for the bay, having rebounded from very low levels in the 1980s because of limits on fishing.
Bill Goldsborough of the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation, opined that such incidents are not a major threat to the striped bass population but it’s a significant amount of fish that affects the fishery badly. In court documents, authorities accuse the fishermen of circumventing catch limits, sometimes underreporting or falsely reporting how certain fish were caught.
Authorities have also charged Robert Moore Sr., who owns Cannon Seafood in Georgetown. Thomas Abbenante, Moore’s lawyer, said last week that Moore has closed the store and agreed to plead guilty to buying fish caught out of season. It is said that each convicts faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
