Fisheries Board Member Cited for Fishing Three Minutes Past Closure
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Alaska Dispatch News] By Jeannette Lee Falsey - July 7, 2015
A member of the Alaska Board of Fisheries was cited by wildlife troopers in the commercial fishing hotbed of Dillingham last week for continuing to fish in an area after it had been closed.
Frederick "Fritz" Johnson was fishing for salmon using a drift gillnet with Gust McCarr, his fishing partner of six years, when he was cited.
The two men thought fishing closed at 6:30 p.m., when the actual closure happened at 6 p.m., Johnson told Alaska Dispatch News on Monday. They noticed an Alaska Wildlife Troopers plane circling overhead shortly after 6.
"We were attracting a lot of attention and weren't sure why," Johnson said. "It turns out we were three minutes over."
Troopers issued the citation July 2. The men are expected to be in court July 14. Troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen did not dispute Johnson's assessment...
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