Man Fined for Exceeding Fishing Quota

by Sherry Morse and Patricia Collier

The United States National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) recently ordered a Kodiak, AK resident to pay a fine of $22,000 for violating the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act by catching more halibut than permitted and failing to report all of his catches.

James Hayden was issued a Notice of Violation and Assessment by the NMFS after it found he had "exceeded the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ)...for the maximum amount of halibut that may be harvested in one season by a single vessel" and "illegally off-loaded 527 pounds of halibut fillets and 189 pounds of sablefish fillets outside of legal landing hours."

"The IFQ regulations are set up to ensure that quotas are strictly adhered to," said NMFS Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Ken Hansen. "This type of illegal activity...is a serious violation and the penalty reflects that."

According to NMFS spokesperson Garland Walker, Hayden intended to use the fillets for personal consumption.

"Keeping commercially harvested IFQ fish for personal use is permissible if the fish are reported and debited (against allocations) as required by regulations," said Walker. "However, by failing to debit (the) fish...Hayden surreptitiously kept more of his IFQ allocation available for later use."

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.