Yesterday while on a National Marine Fisheries Service boat patrol Environmental Police Officers from DEM’s Division of Law Enforcement boarded what they thought was a recreational fishing vessel. During the boarding officers discovered that the operator and only occupant of the vessel possessed a MA commercial fishing license.
The operator was also in possession of 27 tautog, 22 of which were found to be undersized. All 27 fish were seized and donated to the Amos House in Providence. The poacher was charged with exceeding the daily limit of Tautog and possession of undersized Tautog.
Help us protect what is yours. Report violations to our 24 hour dispatch center at (401) 222-3070.
The shitbags at it again!!
Fkn losers………..pigs……..and all they get is a slap on the wrist…………pathetic
Nice catch , officers!
Auction the boat and give the money to area food banks
Funny how they never mention names .
Beat the shit out of him !
His name was Tommy
Think this creep needs to have his rec/comm licenses suspended, plus a nice dose of community service time
I’m a New Englander and have lived in NC and now Florida for the last 12 years. In the south people are always named, and often pictured, regardless of age.
Should include permanent forfeiture of commercial license.
Maybe the next guy will think twice.
yes…make an example
People you commit these crimes need to made examples of, this is a consequence of low education poverty and poor recreational fishing programs, everyone is at fault here, nonetheless is severe punishment is required
MASSholes. Stay out
And that’s why i haven’t caught any! Those guys are keeping them all.
Have them work free at Amos house cooking the poached fish they caught ,fine them sell all equipment and boat at auction
Maybe the guy was just trying to feed his family so he do6have to go to the food bank? Tax dollars hard at work
Doesn’t
Probably has to do with one of those civil rights. Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law……pesky issues to contend with.
These assholes should be doing jail time fines not anuff make them lose all their fishing stuff post there photos online for sure
Amen
Just think if da Don was re-elected. There would be no fish in the ocean that were clean enough to eat. Hell, he already did away with the (Clean Water Act). Bunch of fools!
Poachers sea and land are lowlife scumbag’s. They should lose their boats and gear, with a large dollar figure fine plus everyone on the boat should not be able too acquire licenses for fishing or hunting for 10 years. F-Them
Release their names for public record so everyone can be on the lookout for these assholes and report them
We’ve been fishing for thousand years, it’s a way of life, can’t even fish anymore it’s the open ocean for crying out loud, give it a rest…and people want to nail them to the cross,we have important things to worry about other than 22 fish christ sakes…
If they poated names and pics it would be alot easier to spot these dirtbags the next time there spotted in our waters!!! Unusual cause they always do
JUST THINK WHAT WOULD BE GOING ON IF BIDEN GOT ELECTED. OPEN THE BORDERS FREE FISHING !!! WE WOULD HAVE NO PLACE TO PARK OUR CARS CUZ THERE WOULD BE A TACO TRUCK ON EVERY STREET. YOURS TRULY PONCHO VIA .
Brilliant reply.
Don’t be ridiculous. Nobody wants open borders.
What’s wrong with you?
????
You lose racist POS
I love tacos
You’re making fishing political. Christ.
yes lets all imagine, or we can realize the shitstorm we are already in
You’re an idiot.
That’s right because illegals have commercial MA fishing licences..!! What an ignorant jerk..!!
This happens every year. Ppl from out of state. Babys with a machine gun. Why should they care. They dont live here. Ill go to mass and just start taking everything. Nobody gets it. We are all in this together. Wake UP!!!!
He was probably an American citizen and this goes on all the time d e m needs to start boarding more boats and they’ll find more at the end of Narragansett Boulevard in Cranston they’re down there filling their trunks with undersized stripers it’s been reported and I don’t see anybody getting arrested
Dirtbags should be named and never allowed to fish again.
BIGGER FINES!
What they should do is concentrate on the commercial boats off our shorelines. I’ve never heard of one being checked on and they’re raping the ocean. They charge us to fix it. Wtf are these other countries fishing our waters?!?!
They have done it before and they will do it again we don’t punish anymore nation of pussies!!!!
Suspended his license for life. A real ? head
Really Lou, what does your commet have to do with the situation.
1) retribution
2) retribution
3) retribution
4) retribution
5) retribution
6) trump is a liar. Poaching isn’t political. Move along.
7) retribution.
Nation of Cowards!
I would understand if he was trying to feed his family with the fish …but you own a boat most likely you have money .. The biggest thing is he has a MA commercial fishing license ..it should be taken away or at least suspended pending. A hearing… I do not think anybody should over fish. never take more fish than what’s needed no matter what …you’re out feed your family I understand that part
Oh man is just fish. Is not that serious. Fucking haters
Sounds like the forecast out of mass
Bunch of racist anglos
We were here before all of you came Over from europe.
y
Lets keep politics out of this !!!!!
The problem in RI is there so stapled for cash they can’t afford the DEM officers to patrol. Nevermind what happens from boats, it’s twice as bad with illegal catches from shore fishing. Report these people!!
Name names!!!
Agreed
Auction the boat, lifetime ban no fishing!
probably takes illegal fish every freaking day. Gets caught once. Gee I wonder why our fisheries are in trouble. I like the comment auction off his boat and donate the proceeds to well people who need help.
Went out yesterday with fish brother we caught 10 quality fish threw over 30 back nice day. If these assholes( let me rephrase that the hole ass )keep doing this and getting just a fine instead of banned from fishing . Fish brother and myself are not going to have too many more nice days . It bad enough out here Dont be robbing the cradle whole ass.
Why do we never get a follow up on articles like this. All the people who comment assume that there was little to no consequences for the poachers. If we had a good story to tell about a guy who got a large fine or equipment taken from him it would spread like wildfire through the fishing community and make people think twice about this kind of stuff.
In the past, in Ontario, Canada, if caught fishing illegally, your boat, fishing equipment, vehicle and trailer (if being boat is trailered) is seized, and can be sold at public auction. To get it back, you may bid on your own stuff, even if you still owe money on it. This is besides losing your license, being fined and/or jail time. Hang ‘Em High!
Man it makes no difference whose elected. You think it was an illegal that owned that fishing vessel? I would be willing to bet that it was a good upstanding citizen. Biden, Trump their all the same. In fact, I would also be willing to bet that Trump has had his share of illegals working for him. Especially in the area of construction. Efficient work at cheaper rates.
I agree, they should be outed and punished. There names should be listed and their gear confiscated.
Hello I’m from new York. You should take the boat and put them in jail.
Not surprised, all day every day these people taking these fish from our waters.Enforcement pretty much non existing. What a shame!!
Only occupant = 1 Poacher. Headline is as misleading as the fake news media!
The comments posted here exemplify why fisherman will never conquer the sustainability problems our fisheries are up against. Instead of well articulated responses to poaching and sensible solutions its nothing but vitriol and comments that are racist and border on racist. I’m wondering if there’s any editorial discretion among the magazine and why publish comments that are not respectful? Poaching is definitely an emotionally charged topic but rein that in. If we accept that some amount of poaching will always exist, put pressure on our local fisheries enforcement to target large scale poaching and organize ourselves and educate about the real threat to fisheries rather than this negative back and forth , we’d be a lot better off.
Your tax dollars (not trump’s) at work!
BOAT AND EQUIPMENT SHOULD BE CONFISCATED AND LISCENCE SUSPENDED FOR SEVEN YEARS. IF INDIVIDUAL IS CAUGHT FISHING DURING THAT TIME PERIOD,HE OR SHE SHOULD BE GIVEN A NICE LENGTHLY STAY IN JAIL .
“Dirt bag “ it’s sad that people don’t respect the rules. Great job officers.
Unfortunately, we have crappy laws and even crappier judges who seem to give the criminals more breaks than the law abiding citizens. Who are the losers? We need to get real judges who will throw the book at these scum bags. Law enforcement is catching them and the judges are letting them go. Maybe it’s time to find candidates that stand with the fishing community!! The judges don’t like to be told what to do, but they should be doing their job.
People broke the law, punish them
It doesn’t matter where they got a license from, where they live, who someone supports or derisively continues to divide what is left of our country”…… this is our world… obviously respondents love to fish…. we need to protect our environment so our children and grandchildren have something we leave to them. Poachers, law breakers, regardless of political affilitiation…. my god I can’t believe politics has intruded into a discussion on this site. Take a breath… do something constructive.. quit fighting
Agreed