PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 28, 2022
A federal grand jury has indicted five Maine fishermen and one from New Hampshire on conspiracy, mail fraud and obstruction of justice charges in a “multi-year scheme” to sell “unreported Atlantic herring and falsify fishing records,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Maine. The 35-count indictment says the owner, captains and crew of the fishing vessel Western Sea “sold more than 2.6 million pounds of Atlantic herring” from 2016 to 2019 that was not reported. The indictment lists more than $460,000 in payments for unreported herring caught in about 80 fishing trips.