Arne Fuglvog, the former aide to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, this morning is scheduled to enter his plea to a misdemeanor commercial fishing violation.
Federal Judge H. Russel Holland of Anchorage will preside. Holland, you might recall, presided over the epic Exxon Valdez oil spill case.
Sackton said it best. The problem with Arne is not that he cheated, its that he cheated while all the time holding himself out to be the epitomy of responsible management of the fisheries. Area management matters, if it didn't there would be no need to have a West Yakutat or Central Gulf designation. Arne knows that it matters, and has made as much clear in his career on the Council (both in the Advisory Panel and on the Council itself), as a fisheries advocate in the media (i.e. with PVOA and in his public statements in interviews for eco organizations about how sustainable the North Pacific fisheries are), and as a Senate aide.
ReplyDeleteWhat is not clear to me is why prosecutors offered and why Arne took the plea. Ten months jail time and $150k in restitution under the Lacey Act is not peanuts. However, but doesn't the MSA allow for revocation of IFQs? Seems to me that would be an even bigger hit, and more appropriate under the circumstances as described in the media reports. Or did Arne have to divest himself of the IFQs for his Senate gig, leaving that option off the table for the prosecutors?
If Arne still has the IFQ, I hope Judge Holland recognizes that the proferred punishment doesn't fit the crime and rejects the deal. If IFQ owners get the impression from this affair that they can willfully cheat on area-based management and the worst they have to face is an uncomfortable season in a Federal facility and a stiff fine, but that they get to keep the value of their Limited Access Privileges, then the future of the program is bleak. As Sackton noted, this violates the trust in the system.
almost a year in jail and a huge fine seems like it would keep fisherman honest. what impression do you think the fisherman have thirty to life?
ReplyDeleteA year in jail to retain a lifetime of making millions of dollars is hardly punishment.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Arne didn't lose his IFQ's because his wife got them in their divorce some years ago.
ReplyDeleteThat explains it. I didn't know they got divorced, my acquaintance with Arne was a decade ago.
ReplyDeleteReally thats all he get. If a Regular fisherman had done the same thing I have to believe the punishment would a whole lot worse. Maybe it is who you know
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