fishing/poachers?

Question

i have put this question before but people thought i was speaking of local.does the usa have trouble with other countries depleting fish stocks in us waters,and what are the cosequences if caught.australia has a lot of indonesions taking our stock,if caught they are towed by the navy to an offshore island and questioned ,then flown home.boats destroyed

Answer 1

Yes, there are Asian factory ships which work the waters off the Pacific Northwest, charging inside the 200 mile limit to poach salmon. A few years ago I saw a video shot by a coast guard helicopter chasing one of these ships -- it was charging west at full speed while the guys on board were heaving evidence (dead salmon) over the side.

The problem is, it's hard to patrol a 200-mile wide strip of ocean, and with radar, the factory ships can get out of there faster than a patrol boat can get to them (and a helicopter or airplane can't stop a 200+ foot long ship with no visible flag or markings).

I don't know what the consequences are when they catch one -- marooning the crew on an island and destroying the boat seems fine to me, but I doubt the US government would do anything so severe (and effective).

Answer 2

In the early 1980s, Russian and Japanese fishing vessels, they were huge, fished off the coast of Long Island, NY until the Congress passed the Stevens-Magnuson Act creating a 200 mile buffer zone. This meant that no foreign ships could fish in US waters inside of 200 miles. By the time, the law was passed the Russians and Japanese almost cleaned out the fish on the Northeast coast. The US gov't is now concerned about poachers within the border. A country which had a lot of problems with foreign poachers is Chile.

Answer 3

I am retired from DNR and I will say this. When person or persons violate rules and regfulations especially in State Parks for fishing or hunting or on other land areas. If your caught, you better have a Giant pocket book.

I caught one Man twice poaching Deer at night on private property. We received a tip from the owners that someone has been hunting on their property at night. I staked it out one night and caught the guy. Then two months later I caught him again.

His fine was $5,000.00 his second trip around in frotn of the Judge. I confisacted his vehicle for having a Doe out of season in it.

Answer 4

Not to the public's knowledge... According to our policy, the offenders would be charged on an individual basis, and with the knowledge of a trend, we would discuss it with our Allies *cough* threaten military force and possibly slowly restrict trade.... Depending on the extreme to which they commit the crime. However, our naval developments have so far scared away any largely impacting imposers on our fishing waters.