Great L. fisheries sting

[Lee Borgersen]

            Charges in Great Lakes fisheries sting


 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 10:58 a.m. CT Jan. 24, 2017 | Updated 2 hours ago.

  .....
An elaborate, multistate undercover investigation of the Great Lakes fishing industry that involved an award-winning Door County business has finally resulted in criminal charges.

But so far, just one Upper Peninsula fish house owner faces only federal misdemeanor counts in the case.

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On Friday, federal prosecutors from Michigan and Washington, D.C., filed four counts of "knowingly making and submitting a false record and label for, and false identification of, fish intended to be transported in interstate commerce" on dates in December 2012 and March 2013.

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Christopher Peterson is an owner of Peterson's Fish Market in Hancock, Mich., a business that investigators suspected of engaging in the illegal harvest and sale of lake trout.
Peterson could not immediately be reached for comment. Federal court records did not indicate whether Peterson has a lawyer.  The charges were first reported on the website Upper Peninsula Breaking News.

The sprawling, two-year investigation was revealed in federal search warrants unsealed in 2014.

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U.S. Department of Fish & Wildlife agents set up a fake fish store in tiny L'Anse, Mich., recorded conversations on boats and in bars around Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, and raided a major Sturgeon Bay company, Dan's Fish, and its affiliates, suspected of buying illegal fish.

A Madison attorney for Dan's Fish could not be reached for comment on the Peterson charges.

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Fishermen and wildlife officials have long been concerned about diminishing stocks of lake trout, sturgeon and walleye in the upper Great Lakes. Thinking violators might be a key reason, in 2012  undercover agents bought and sold tons of what they later claimed was illegally harvested fish from Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

The fishermen and business owners named in the search warrants include members of various Indian tribes and nontribal fish dealers.

Peterson's Fish Market is located on U.S. Highway 41 in Hancock, Mich. Investigators say the operators of the business illegally harvest trout in Lake Superior. (Photo: Federal court records, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

 

[LPS]

They say the bought "tons" of illegally caught lake trout.  I am curious now to see if anyone gets a fine... 

[Boar]

they should, their not in  SlapMesota.