Hankins, who owned halibut and sablefish IFQ and fished aboard Fuglvog's vessel the F/V Kamilar, has been charged by federal agents with a series of false catch reports.

Sablefish and Halibut that was designated to be caught in a central Gulf of Alaska fishing area was in fact caught in the West Yakutat area, and falsely listed as having been caught in Central Alaska. Halibut that was designated for area 3 B was in fact caught in area 3 A.

When questioned by NOAA investigators in July of 2009, Hankins reportedly said the IFQ program did not consider historic fishing grounds when an arbitrary line was designated, and further "the fish don't give a damn where the line is."

According to a report from the Alaska Dispatch, the timing of the investigation into Hankins, who was one of Fuglvog's crew members, gives weight to the suspicion that Fuglvog, a former fisheries aide to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, withdrew from consideration for the top job at NMFS because he knew he was under investigation, and not because the hiring process had stalled, as was reported at the time.

The investigation showed Hankins made more than a quarter million dollars through his illegal takes of nearly 70,000 combined pounds of sablefish and halibut.

This story was reproduced with permission from SeafoodNews.com