Saving Seafood

Fishermen question settlement of convicted Carlos Rafael

August 23, 2019 — The penalties keep coming for New Bedford fishing mogul Carlos Rafael, the self-styled “Codfather” who once dominated groundfishing in the Northeast with one of the largest independently owned fleets in the country.

He is halfway through a 46-month federal prison sentence for violations that included falsely labeling fish, smuggling cash, tax evasion and falsifying federal records. He also was fined more than $300,000 and ordered to sell off two vessels and permits in that criminal case.

This week, Rafael was hit with more than $3 million in fines and a lifetime ban as part of a settlement agreement in a civil case brought against him by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Read the full story at the Cape Cod Times

Blue Harvest tipped as likely buyer of Carlos Rafael’s groundfish fleet

August 22, 2019 — Blue Harvest Fisheries, a US scallop and groundfish supplier backed by private equity Bregal Partners, is believed to have moved to the front of the pack in the chase to nab the 32 groundfish permits and 19 related draggers owned by Carlos Rafael in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Quinn Fisheries, a longtime area scalloper, appears a lock, meanwhile, to land Rafael’s 11 scallop permits and related vessels, as previously reported.

The competition is on to acquire Rafael’s sizable commercial fishing operation following the civil settlement announced on Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Carlos Rafael was a seafood kingpin, until fake Russian mobsters took him down. Now he’ll never fish again.

August 21, 2019 — Carlos Rafael was made on the waterfront. For decades, the balding seafood magnate haunted the docks and early morning fish auctions in New Bedford, Mass., where he had gone from gutting fish as a high school dropout to controlling one of the largest fishing fleets in the United States. Though he estimated his net worth at somewhere between $10 million and $25 million, he still walked the creaky, bait-scented wharves in flannel shirts and worn jeans every day, barking out commands and alternating between foul-mouthed English and rapid-fire Portuguese as he chain-smoked Winston cigarettes and monitored the day’s catch.

That all changed in 2016, when federal authorities revealed that Rafael was at the center of a sprawling criminal investigation involving fake Russian mobsters, fraudulent haddock and duffel bags of cash. Now 67, Rafael will never fish commercially again, according to the terms of a settlement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that was announced Monday. It’s the latest chapter in the downfall of the man known as the “Codfather,” who is serving nearly four years in federal prison, and, under the new settlement, owes the government more than $3 million in fines.

Under the circumstances, getting out of the fishing business was the right choice, Rafael’s attorney, John Markey, told The Washington Post. But it also amounts to a significant sacrifice for the seafood tycoon, who wasn’t yet ready to retire. Up until the day Rafael reported to prison, Markey said, he still went to work on the docks each day at 6 a.m., driving a 10-year-old pickup truck.

Read the full story at The Washington Post

NOAA settlement with Rafael clears path for big scallop, groundfish vessel selloff

August 20, 2019 — Now that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has settled its civil claims against Carlos Rafael and 17 of his former fishing captains, look for the wheeling and dealing to intensify for his 43 scallop and groundfish permits and a related 30 fishing vessels.

Almost two years after a federal judge sentenced Rafael to pay $300,000 in fines and restitution and spend 46 months in prison for 28 different criminal counts, including repeatedly lying about his catch to authorities and evading taxes, the 67-year-old, so-called “Codfather” of New Bedford, Massachusetts, reached an agreement on Monday to determine what civil penalties he might also pay.

NOAA budged little from the $3,356,269 it said in September 2018 that it would seek from Rafael, hitting him with a $3,010,633 civil money penalty. However, rather than revoking Rafael’s many limited access permits, as some in the fishing sector desired or even expected, NOAA has given him until Dec. 31, 2020 — about 16 months — to sell them along with the many fishing vessels he owns or controls through transactions reviewed and approved by the agency.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

Update: Carlos Rafael to be banned from fishing, pay $3 million; captains also face penalties

August 20, 2019 — New Bedford fishing magnate Carlos Rafael will permanently give up all commercial fishing by March 31 and pay a $3 million penalty to settle the federal government’s civil claims against him, federal fishing authorities said Monday.

Allegations against the self-proclaimed “Codfather” included dozens of counts of misreporting groundfish species, underreporting groundfish, and other fishery violations related to scalloping, gear and restricted areas.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it settled with Rafael and his fishing captains Monday in an administrative proceeding.

Rafael is sitting in federal prison at Federal Medical Center Devens, where he reported in November of 2017 to serve a 46-month sentence for falsifying fishing quota, cash smuggling and tax evasion in a separate criminal case.

His attorney in the civil matter, John Markey, said that considering what an appeal would require, Rafael believes the settlement is the right thing to do for him, his family, and the captains and crews of his vessels.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

Senator Warren Statement on NOAA Settlement with Carlos Rafael

August 20, 2019 — The following was released by The Office of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA):

United States Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) released the following statement today following news that the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has reached a settlement of the civil case against Carlos Rafael:

“The U.S. Department of Commerce and the NOAA should do everything in their power to ensure that all of the fishing permits Carlos Rafael held remain in the Port of New Bedford. These permits sustain an industry that has been part of the fabric and the way of life in New Bedford for hundreds of years. Law-abiding fishing families and businesses have already suffered through no fault of their own, and don’t deserve to have their livelihoods taken away because of Rafael’s wrongdoing.”

Last October, Senator Warren sent a letter to the Commerce Department and NOAA urging them to keep the fishing permits in the hands of Massachusetts families and businesses.

NOAA fines Carlos Rafael $3m, requires him to cease all fishing, give up permits

August 19, 2019 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has reached a settlement with Carlos Rafael that will see the incarcerated fishing mogul pay a $3 million civil fine, relinquish the dealer permit held by his Carlos Seafood business, permanently cease all groundfish and scallop fishing, and sell all federal fishing permits and fishing vessels he owns or controls by the end of next year.

NOAA said in a press release that 17 of Rafael’s former captains will receive suspensions of their operator permits ranging from 20 to 200 days and serve probationary periods of one to three years for their own violations of federal fishing rules.

According to the settlement, Rafael’s fleet must cease all groundfish fishing by Dec. 31, 2019, and end all scallop harvesting by March 31, 2020.

Read the full story at Undercurrent News

New film, “Buoyancy,” tackles issue of slavery in Thai seafood industry

August 19, 2019 — An Australian filmmaker is hoping that his debut feature film entitled, “Buoyancy,” will help to raise greater awareness of human trafficking and slavery on Thai fishing vessels.

Rodd Rathjen’s award-winning film highlights the plight of thousands of migrant Cambodian workers trapped in modern slavery in the Thai seafood industry. Shot in Cambodia in the Khmer and Thai languages, the film centers on the plight of an impressionable 14-year old Cambodian boy, who sets out to escape poverty by finding work in a Thai factory, but finds himself sold by a broker and enslaved on a fishing trawler. The result is a harrowing exposition of a reality that remains an issue for the Thai industry, despite ongoing efforts to combat it.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

C4ADS report names companies involved in global IUU fishing trade

August 14, 2019 — The Spanish firm Sea Group SL, South Korea’s Sajo Systems, and several Chinese conglomerates, including the Beijing State-Owned Capital Operation and Management Center and Pingtan Marine Enterprise Limited, which is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market, were each named in a new report tying them to illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing practices.

The report, “Strings Attached: Exploring the Onshore Networks Behind Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated Fishing,” was released 14 August and was produced by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. that researches transnational security issues.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Carlos Rafael settles Coast Guard oil violations; feds auction boats

August 14, 2019 — Carlos Rafael, the longtime New Bedford industry figure now serving a 46-month sentence in federal prison, settled water pollution complaints for $511,000 in civil penalties, as the U.S. Marshals Service offered two of his boats at auction.

Rafael, manager Stephanie Rafael DeMello, and captain Carlos Pereira agreed to the penalty and making improvements to the Vila Nova do Corvo II. The Coast Guard charged that the vessel discharged oily bilge waste overboard at sea while harvesting scallops and that its used fuel filters were likewise dumped over the side.

Rafael pleaded guilty to falsifying landing reports, fish labeling and other records, tax evasion and cash smuggling. He was arrested in February 2016 after federal investigators, posing as Russian immigrants with sketchy organized crime connections, recorded Rafael bragging about how he routinely faked landing reports and fish tickets to evade quota limits.

In the original sentencing, Rafael had been ordered to forfeit four vessels to the government, but a final settlement allowed two of those, the Bulldog and Southern Crusader II, to be released to his wife Conceicao Rafael and other New Bedford fishermen in shared ownership.

Read the full story at National Fisherman