The New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game has had their hands full as of late dealing with an increase in cross-border illegal fishing with commercial vessels from neighboring Massachusetts.
While New Hampshire prohibits the sale of any striped bass from its waters, Massachusetts does allow a 15-fish quota for commercial vessels to catch and sell striped bass measuring over 35 inches. In an attempt to skirt the rules, a Massachusetts man was caught fishing off the coast of New Hampshire with hopes of importing the fish into his home state and making a quick buck.
The unidentified poacher was promptly caught after a number of local fishing vessels noticed his boat, marked with a Massachusetts hull number, fishing late at night with no running lights. Reporting the suspicious activity to NHFG, the sneaky fisherman tried to give the local fishermen and authorities the slip, but was promptly met at the boat ramp by local police as he attempted to ditch the fish.
Recognizing that the gig was up, the man admitted to his wrongdoing and that he had full intentions of selling all 14 of the large striped bass which had an estimated street value of about $1,600.
“Those fish that he killed, those are all big breeding female fish,” local captain and fishing guide Peter Whelan told WMUR. “Some of those fish are 25 years old. They swim back and forth from New Hampshire to Chesapeake Bay … those fish come back to the same spots every year, so we’re really trying to protect the resource.”
The agency thanked the angling community for reporting the illegal activity, but remains diligent in the fight against this cross-border issue that isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. With multiple reports of other incidents just like this one, the agency is increasing nighttime patrols and will continue to prosecute anyone caught taking striped bass in an attempt to fill their commercial quotas in Massachusetts.
“Officers seized evidence — to include fish and equipment — to prosecute the pending charges which include overlimits of fish, oversized fish, and the use of gaffs,” NHFG explained in a Facebook post. The two states are working together in the investigation and have stated that all of the fish are set to be donated following the court proceedings.
