MAINE PUBLIC • July 12, 2024
Nine people, including eight from Maine and one from New Hampshire, have been sentenced in a long-running commercial fishing scheme. The fishermen pled guilty to underreporting their catch of Atlantic herring, a popular lobster bait, according to U.S. attorneys. Federal officials said that in a three-year scheme, the owner, captain and crew of a Rockland-based commercial fishing vessel known as the Western Sea knowingly submitted false landings reports to NOAA. The crew caught more herring than is allowed under weekly federal limits. During more than 80 trips the Western Sea crew caught and sold more than 2.6 million pounds of herring that was not reported. The Western Sea concealed the income on tax documents.