Federal authorities today issued a press release that says in part:
On May 8, 2013, American Seafoods Company and the owners and operators of the catcher/processors Ocean Rover and Northern Eagle were charged by NOAA’s Office of General Counsel for tampering with the equipment used for weighing Alaska pollock. Pollock on these vessels are processed for many uses, from frozen fish sticks and imitation crab to roe and fish oil.
The respondents in these cases are alleged to have adjusted their flow scales to record lower weights, and then recorded these inaccurate weights in their logbooks in violation of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the American Fisheries Act.
Flow scales are used to ensure accurate catch accounting. Adjusting the equipment to record a lower weight allowed the vessels to go over their quotas, essentially stealing fish from others permitted in the Alaska pollock fishery.
These are not the first cases of their kind. NOAA’s Office of General Counsel issued a Notice of Violation and Assessment (NOVA) in January 2012 for similar violations alleged to have occurred on another American Seafoods Company catcher/processor, the American Dynasty. The penalty being sought in this pending case is $543,500. In the Ocean Rover case, NOAA’s Office of General Counsel issued a NOVA proposing an assessed penalty of $848,000; in the Northern Eagle case, General Counsel issued a NOVA proposing an assessed penalty of $1,337,000.
so, nobody goes to jail, right? Kind of like the bay guys and going over the line. Just the cost of doing business....
ReplyDeleteMSC Approved?
ReplyDeleteYou'd better believe they cheat on their bycatch too.
ReplyDeleteWonder if they are doing the same with their by catch.....where are all the kings????
ReplyDeleteThe American people have to demand that this cheating in the fisheries in the Bering Sea is stopped. Jail time and huge, huge fines is warrented.
ReplyDeleteThat's the American way ;-)
ReplyDeleteAgree with blogger 5/14 @ 7:18.
ReplyDeleteJail time and a huge fine will give the cheaters a clear warning.
The funny thing is their isn't a clear smoking gun for evidence. Its only hear say, all by a tree hugger observers. Its supposed to be innocent til proven guilty but here its guilty til proven innocent. Which as some other people have commented on is the "American Way"
ReplyDeleteWhen hearsay is substituted as the truth, the targeted person is always assumed to be guilty. It's the Salem Witch Hunts all over again. Those hunts were tied to illiterate and ignorant people. Alaska is coming full circle. Crooks have been putting fear in innocent peoples minds just to hang onto control a little bit longer.
ReplyDeleteWhat goes around will eventually come around.
Common thieves. Scumbags. Already been convicted before jackass quit saying they are innocent. They deserve to be seized at the dock and scrapped.
ReplyDeleteTo them, this is just the cost of doing business. They will pay the NOVA and still make a profit on the stolen pollock.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous May 15 @ 9:46. What makes you think there's no "clear smoking gun"? You really don't know what kind of evidence NOAA had. There could have been coroborating evidence from the crew, the scale, the offload, etc. I do know one thing, NOAA doesn't pursue major NOVAs based on nothing but observer hearsay.
ReplyDeleteI worked for American Seafoods.
ReplyDeleteTheir company attitude is to get away with as much as possible, even if it means breaking the rules. As far as the flow scales go, the goal was not to maintain a steady 0% deviation. The goal was to run the scale as close to the 3% under mark to give the company more fish. Also, the flow scale was expected to be running underweight for the majority of the time. Flow scale checks are only conducted once a day in the presence of a Federal observer. At this time, the scale was properly calibrated to make sure it passed regulation. A 2.7 million dollar fine is nothing compared to the extra revenue the stolen fish add up to.
I worked there for 15 years, flow scale cheating was done nearly every day. The bleeder would just shove a fish head under the scale and remove before the flow scale test w observer. All anyone has to do is go back 15 years and look at fish caught vs offloaded product to get the recovery rate. Not rocket science guys! The records are just sitting there waiting for someone with a calculator to figure out the amount. Every day an email was sent south to seattle office stating amount caught and amount produced of each specific product. You cannot have a massive recovery rate without the extra unweighed fish. That simple! Subpoena those production records and youve got em nailed.
ReplyDelete