Poaching on Ohio waters

[MO_]

PORT CLINTON, OH – Pisces Fisheries Inc. of Wheatley, Ontario, was fined $5,000 for fishing illegally in Ohio waters, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). Pisces Fisheries was sentenced by the Ottawa County Municipal Court in Port Clinton on Dec. 21, 2012, by Magistrate Louis P. Wargo III.

“This was a great multi-agency response,” said Gino Barna, ODNR Division of Wildlife law supervisor for the Lake Erie Law Enforcement Unit. “Gill nets have not been a major issue on Lake Erie in recent years because of the cooperation with other agencies. Because of this support network, incidents like this do not go undetected, and Ohio’s resources are better protected.”

The charges were the result of the Adco II, a gill net tug owned by Pisces Fisheries, fishing with gill nets in Ohio waters on two separate occasions. On May 5, 2012, the ODNR Division of Wildlife, with the assistance of the Office of Air and Marine, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Station Marblehead and ODNR Division of Watercraft, five nets belonging to the Adco II were found in Ohio waters north of North Bass Island.

On May 9, 2012, five more nets set by the Adco II were found by the U.S. Border Patrol south of Middle Sister Island in Ohio waters. The USCG monitored the nets throughout the night and boarded the Adco II the following morning.

Wildlife investigators from the Lake Erie Law Enforcement Unit investigated the incidents. Two charges were filed for possessing gill nets in Ohio, and two charges were filed for fishing with commercial nets in Ohio without a commercial license.

The use of gill nets is not a legal method for taking fish in Ohio. Although commercial fishermen may use other types of nets, such as trap nets and seines, gill nets were outlawed in Ohio in 1983.

Anyone who observes or suspects wildlife violations are occurring may report illegal activity by calling the Turn-In-A-Poacher (TIP) hotline toll free at 1-800-POACHER.

ODNR ensures a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Visit the

[jighead419]

Grumpy cat likes this!!

[CAPTBRIAN]

For what they did and did it twice seems like a low fine to me.

[wakina]

$5,000 is probably less than what the perch were worth that they had poached and were on board at the time of their arrest. I am sure they didn't get caught every time they poached and probably made several hauls before their first arrest. Their gill net tug should have been taken from the owners cut up and sold as scrap 100 lbs at a time. The owners should have been fined an additional amount of 10 times the worth of their catch and the captain and crew fined at 2 times the worth of their catch. That would take the incentive out of poaching in Ohio waters!

[PCperchhunter]

Agree with Wakina 100%. I'm sure they benefited far more than $5K on their hauls, not to mention all the other fish that were killed and tossed in the water by the gill net. I doubt the fine even covered the man hours, equipment and time invested in catching them. They'll be back out again this summer.

[wakina]

Has any one of our members ever mis-counted on their perch limit and got a ticket for being one or two over? The reason I am asking is to relate what the fine was for being one or two over vs a gillnet tug with lets say only 500 perch which would make them 500 over as well as fishing without a licence.

[BigDan]

what do you think the fine would be if it was a Ohio company in Canadian waters!!!!!! I seen two guys at lake simcoe have twice there legal limit of perch and lost there four wheelers and truck Big Dan

[wakina]

PORT CLINTON, OH – Pisces Fisheries Inc. of Wheatley, Ontario, was fined $5,000 for fishing illegally in Ohio waters, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). Pisces Fisheries was sentenced by the Ottawa County Municipal Court in Port Clinton on Dec. 21, 2012, by Magistrate Louis P. Wargo III.

“This was a great multi-agency response,” said Gino Barna, ODNR Division of Wildlife law supervisor for the Lake Erie Law Enforcement Unit. “Gill nets have not been a major issue on Lake Erie in recent years because of the cooperation with other agencies. Because of this support network, incidents like this do not go undetected, and Ohio’s resources are better protected.”

The charges were the result of the Adco II, a gill net tug owned by Pisces Fisheries, fishing with gill nets in Ohio waters on two separate occasions. On May 5, 2012, the ODNR Division of Wildlife, with the assistance of the Office of Air and Marine, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Station Marblehead and ODNR Division of Watercraft, five nets belonging to the Adco II were found in Ohio waters north of North Bass Island.

On May 9, 2012, five more nets set by the Adco II were found by the U.S. Border Patrol south of Middle Sister Island in Ohio waters. The USCG monitored the nets throughout the night and boarded the Adco II the following morning.

Wildlife investigators from the Lake Erie Law Enforcement Unit investigated the incidents. Two charges were filed for possessing gill nets in Ohio, and two charges were filed for fishing with commercial nets in Ohio without a commercial license.

The use of gill nets is not a legal method for taking fish in Ohio. Although commercial fishermen may use other types of nets, such as trap nets and seines, gill nets were outlawed in Ohio in 1983.

Anyone who observes or suspects wildlife violations are occurring may report illegal activity by calling the Turn-In-A-Poacher (TIP) hotline toll free at 1-800-POACHER.

ODNR ensures a balance between wise use and protection of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Visit the

What I find dis-hearting is the fact this article says nothing about the number of fish either in their nets or on the Adco II gillnet tug at the time of their arrest. Either they are terrible comercial fishermen or their should have been some perch on board or in their nets at that time. Any fish that is caught in a gill net is either already dead or with all probability die from the injuries suffered from their entrapment in the net. Gill nets are not species select and will entrap any fish that will fit into the mesh size of the net that the gill netters have set.

[pap]

How many of you guys paid for fish not fileted right, seems I remember a lot of talk about when odnr waited at the docks to literly count your catch of the day, and to see if you fileted them right so they could easly count how many walleye you had in a freezer bag,How many guys paid fines for not leaving the patch of hide on for them to tell how many and what kind of fish you had in possession at the time of the check point,I bet you locals and us out of staters paid well over 5 grand just on that one new (OLD) law, and those gill netters get a slap on the wrist and let go, What in the hell is wrong with this picture???

[MO_]

While the fine is a joke hopefully the news will spread through the community and sites like this one and make the fishermen aware of it so they can help police it & call the tip line and turn them in if they continue. After all, if we as fishermen can stop just a few it will add up to thousands of fish saved for us.