Five Maryland Commercial Fishermen Plead Guilty to Illegally Overfishing Striped Bass

The U.S. Department of Justice reports in its press release (quotation, not an independent finding): “WASHINGTON—Five St. Mary’s County, Md., commercial fisherman pleaded guilty today to illegally overfishing striped bass also known as rockfish, the Justice Department announced. “Fishing limits in the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River are designed to protect the healthy sustainable population of striped bass and ensure a viable fishery up and down the eastern seaboard. Commercial fishermen who knowingly conceal their illegal activities, and who traffic in illegally harvested rockfish are undercutting an honest market and risking the continuation of the species,” said John C. Cruden, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Most rockfish return from the Atlantic Ocean to the freshwater of the Chesapeake Bay to spawn,” said Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. “If commercial fishermen obey the rules, we can all enjoy rockfish forever. If we allow overfishing, the rockfish population could be wiped out very quickly.” According to their plea agreements, Thomas L. Crowder Jr. of Leonardtown, Md.; John W. Dean of Scotland, Md.; Charles Quade of Churchtown, Md.; Thomas L. Hallock of Catharpin, Va.; and Keith A. Collins of Deale, Md., are all commercial fisherman operating in or near St. Mary’s County, Md., and the surrounding waters of the Chesapeake Bay. As commercial fishermen in Maryland, they were each subject to a maximum quota in pounds of striped bass that they were allowed to harvest in a year and were also required to record each day’s harvest of striped bass on a permit allocation”