Two Month Shellfish Investigation - Combined InterRegional-Marine Unit Effort

On March 9, 2005, ECO Billotto received a complaint  from Susan Ritchie, a Region One food Shellfish Inspector.  She stated, while in the Fulton Fish Market, she came upon 10  bags of oysters at a sea food distributor.  The ten bags of oysters had shipper and dealer tags from a fish company in Montauk on them. However, the company's name was crossed off and the digger's names and expired permit numbers were written on the tags in magic marker. The diggers are a father and son from Montauk. The tags were marked with "NY State" as the harvest area. The oysters were shipped from a Montauk seafood shipper.  ECOs Billotto and Smith went to the Montauk seafood shipper on that afternoon and checked the shipping records. They found since the first of January, 2005, the unpermitted diggers have shipped oysters to the Fulton Fish Market dealer on at least four other occasions. Neither digger has a shipper's and processors permit to ship shellfish.  They also found a box of ten 100 count bags of oysters ready for shipment on a trailer which were tagged again with the crossed out shipper and dealer's tags of the fish company and the digger's name and expired permit number on the tags with the harvest date of 03/09/05 and harvest area, NY State.  The ECOs seized the shipment.  They also found that the oysters, which were  harvested out of Lake Montauk, were about 80 percent under the East Hampton Town, three inch size limit.  They notified the East Hampton Town Bay Constables Office.

W/O A Shellfish Permit

On March 10, 2005, ECOs Billotto and Smith were patrolling Montauk Harbor at about 1:00 P.M., and observed the father (from the above incident) digging hard clams off Star Island Drive, Montauk Harbor. The ECOs verified that the subject still had not renewed his digger's permit. They watched the digger put a bag of clams into his truck and observed him drive to the Montauk fish company.  The ECOs entered the business to find the digger filling out the fish company's shipper's tag and writing his expired digger's permit number on the tag.  The Officers inspected the shipper's records and found numerous purchases of shellfish from both the father and son, since January 1, 2005.  They also found their records to be incomplete and tags missing.  They also found and seized another three bags of hard clams and about six bags of oysters from the two unpermitted diggers. All the shellfish was seized and destroyed.  The manager of the fish company was issued twenty-six ECATs, for buying shellfish on numerous dates from unpermitted diggers, possessing improperly tagged shellfish, and records violations. The Fulton Fish Market seafood distributor  was issued five ECATs from ECO Snowdon (Region 2), for purchasing shellfish from unpermitted diggers and failing to retain tags.  The father was issued seventeen ECATs for harvesting, shellfish without a permit, shipping shellfish without a permit, failing to properly tag shellfish, transporting untagged shellfish and no records of sales of shellfish.  The son was issued twelve ECATs for harvesting shellfish without a permit, shipping shellfish without a permit, illegal use of shippers tags and improperly tagged shellfish. All cases are pending in appropriate criminal courts.

Over Trip Limit on Fluke . . .

On March 14, 2005, ECO Snyder did a routine dockside JEA patrol at the Shinnecock commercial boat docks.  While at the docks, she met up with ECO Ruckert, NMFS Special Agent Jim Cassin and some members of the US Coast Guard Shinnecock Group.  The Officers performed an inspection of recently-landed fish that was contained in a truck ready for transport to the market.  Some discrepancies were discovered with 16 cartons of fish that were landed by one of the commercial fishing vessels.  According to dock records, the fish were all landed on one day.  The tags on the boxes, however, were labeled for two consecutive days.  The cartons of fish were improperly tagged to cover up for a fluke overage of close to 400 pounds.  The excess fish were seized and the violator was charged with both the over-limit of fluke and the tagging violation.

Closed Area Posting

On April 13, 2005, ECO Atwood met  with Mike Ritter and Pete Ritter from Region 1 Shell Fisheries to post the Westchester shore of Long Island Sound with closed area signs.  The ECO and Shell Fisheries staff posted five areas which were of greatest concern. They used a mix of English, Spanish and Chinese signs. Hopefully this will aid in the enforcement efforts of the ECOs regarding the taking of shellfish from uncertified areas, as well as help to educate the public regarding the taking of shellfish.

NYS DEC Division of Law Enforcement Captain Richard M. Otterstedt Building 40 B - SUNY Stony Brook, NY 11790-2356 Phone: 631-444-0250 FAX: 631-444-0251 Website: www.dec.state.ny.us

 

Page last modified Monday, May 9, 2005 by George E. Carroll