January 29, 2018 — The first criminal trial of a Long Island fisherman charged in connection with a federal probe of a controversial fish-auction program is set to begin, but a report detailing fisheries enforcement abuses by the government has been barred from the trial.
Lawyers for Northport fisherman Thomas Kokell, charged in a multi-count indictment with overharvesting fluke, argued in pretrial motions that a 2010 federal inspector general’s report detailing abuses and “overzealousness” by the National Marine Fisheries Service was vital to the defense.
The Environmental Crimes unit of the U.S. Department of Justice has reached plea agreements with seven Long Island and New York City fishermen and fish dealers in connection with the six-year probe.
Most have been charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy and false reporting crimes. Five received prison time or home detention, including a 74-year-old Mattituck fisherman charged with taking $78,000 in illegal fish. Fines and restitution have ranged from $150,000 to $932,000 and most lost their fishing or dealer permits.
In November 2016, Kokell was charged with conspiracy, mail fraud and falsification of federal records in connection with the illegal harvest of more than $400,000 worth of fluke. He is the first to fight the charges in court. The trial is set to begin next month.
His lawyers have argued that Kokell’s case should be handled as a civil, not criminal, case, citing findings from the inspector general’s report and the federal Magnuson-Stevens Act, which governs the fisheries.
Kokell, who was fined $120,000 in a 2006 case involving overfishing, had been a vocal critic of the marine fisheries agency‘s enforcement and legal practices.
He and his wife appeared with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) at a Port Washington dock to demand action against the fisheries agency, a unit of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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