For the second time in three months, the U.S. Coast Guard has charged the captain of a fishing boat in the fleet of Carlos Raphael, an influential New Bedford businessman and New England industry leader, with operating while having a hidden compartment on board.
An admiral estimated the discovery meant the boat could have illegally generated $3 million this year from a hidden harvest of scallops — the No. 1 cash crop in U.S. fisheries, and the hallmark that has made New Bedford the nation's port of highest valued landings.
Raphael owns New Bedford's largest fleet, estimated at more than two dozen active groundfish and scallop boats. He also serves as a board member of the Gloucester-based Northeast Seafood Coalition.
The Coast Guard announced that the 67-foot F/V Dinah Jane, which is owned by a corporation controlled by Raphael, was boarded Friday near Block Island, R.I. by a team from the cutter Bainbridge Island while fishing for scallops.
Read the complete article from The Gloucester Times