Department of Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAA Fisheries Service
- Office for Law Enforcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 26, 2006

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will pursue civil penalties and fishing permit suspensions in a case against North Carolina men who enforcement agents say violated fishery regulations off the southern New Jersey coast in August 2005.

The owner and captain of the North Carolina scallop vessel, Mary Elizabeth were charged this month, after a year-long investigation, with entering and exiting the Hudson Canyon Sea Scallop Access Area more than once per trip with scallops onboard the vessel in violation of fisheries laws. This allowed the fishermen to circumvent days-at-sea management measures, which are intended to protect the scallop population.

Federally permitted scallop vessels are authorized to enter the Hudson Canyon Sea Scallop Access Area only once per trip, and may not re-enter on the same fishing trip. This prohibition was designed to manage fishing effort in these access areas.

The vessel owner, Trawler Sandy Potter, Inc., and its captain, Frankie Credle now face a possible $180,000 penalty and individual permit sanctions, which would ban the vessel and captain from participating in federally regulated fisheries for 100 days.

“Our vessel monitoring system is effective and efficient in tracking vessels at sea,” said Special Agent Jeff Ray of NOAA Fisheries Service's Office of Law Enforcement. “Sea scallop access areas are intended to maintain a healthy scallop fishery.”

NOAA's satellite-based vessel monitoring system alerted enforcement to the Mary Elizabeth's presence outside the Hudson Canyon Sea Scallop Access Area. Special Agent Ray boarded the vessel upon its return to port. The vessel owner and captain forfeited approximately 1079 pounds of scallops and 64 pounds of monkfish during the investigation. The fish were sold for $9,814 and will be held in escrow until the case is adjudicated.

In 2007 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, celebrates 200 years of science and service to the nation.  From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America 's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

To report illegal fishing activities contact the NOAA Fisheries Service's Enforcement Hot Line at 800-853-1964.   

On the Web:

NOAA Fisheries Service: www.nmfs.noaa.gov

NOAA: www.noaa.gov

Note to Reporters:

•  Monetary civil penalties for fisheries violations are assessed when NOAA's Office of General Counsel issues a Notice of Violation and Assessment (NOVA) to the alleged violator; Permit sanctions are assessed when NOAA's Office of General Counsel issues a Notice of Permit Sanction (NOPS) to the alleged violator.

•  Alleged violators are given thirty days from receipt of a NOVA or a NOPS to request a hearing before an administrative law judge.

•  NOAA enforcement press releases are distributed for informational purposes only and do not have the force and effect of law.