Unalaska, AK – The fishing vessel F/V Trident was heavily fined by NOAA for falsely reporting where they fished on five trips during 2006 and 2007. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's enforcement office in Alaska was alerted that some vessels might be fishing in closed areas closer to shore. Upon comparing the log books on the Trident with the plotters on the ship's navigation equipment, officers noticed that they didn't match up. On the different trips, the boat was fishing closer to Akutan, Sand Point, and Unalaska than they reported.

The Tri Fish LLC and the owners and permit holders will pay a combined $18 thousand dollar penalty. In addition, the ruling suspends vessel owners Michael Lang and Barry McKee's 2010 Bering Sea sablefish IFQ and they cannot lease it out. The lost value of the quota for next year is estimated to be about $241 thousand dollars. NOAA deputy special agent Mathew Brown said the fine is larger than most.

"They are looking at this as an egregious crime. Some of the penalties were fairly stiff. I think these are some of the stiffer ones we've seen of recent," he said, "but we're in an age of declining fish stocks around the world. If we don't manage these properly and enforce the regulations and the laws on federal fisheries then at some point in the future we may be suffering from declining stocks in Alaska as well. We want to avoid that."

Brown said certain areas are closed off to fishing order to protect the stocks. Violating the regulations endangers the fish and is not fair to other fishermen. The F/V Trident delivered the falsely reported fish to processors in Unalaska, Sand Point, and Akutan. None of the processors are under investigation. The 59-foot boat is home-ported in Seattle and is not associated with the large processor of the same name.