No action in illegal fishing cases

ESCANABA - It's been nearly a year since six suspects were arrested in connection with an alleged illegal commercial fishing operation on Little Bay de Noc. No charges have been officially filed yet.

The current status of the case is that the U.S. Attorney General's Office in Marquette continues to review the matter, said Cpl. Shannon VanPatten, a local conservation officer with the Commercial Fish Enforcement Unit of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Quality.

The arrests were the result of a DNRE investigation which revealed an unusually high amount of walleye being sold in the wholesale fish market, initially brought to attention by VanPatten.

Following surveillance and information gathering, conservation officers seized 265 pounds of fish illegally harvested from the bay and 1,200 feet in gill nets in late February.

Five tribal members from the Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Tribe and one resident of Delta County were arrested in connection with the alleged illegal commercial fishing operation.

"A portion of the case is still being reviewed by the US Attorney's Office in Marquette," VanPatten said last week. "The other portion is in the hands of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians."

Officials estimated illegal commercial fishing operations in January and February 2009 involved about 22,000 pounds of walleye. It's suspected more than 72,000 pounds of walleye and other game fish were illegally removed from the bay during the previous five winters.

Since the six men were arrested, DRNE officials have met with officials from Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Tribe, United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S Attorney's Office in Marquette.

"Right now, the case is out of our hands until we hear something further," VanPatten commented on behalf of the DNRE.

The tribe's prosecutor's office and public relations office have not responded to telephone inquiries made by the Daily Press regarding the five tribal members. The Delta County Prosecutor's Office has not received any request for an arrest warrant on the county resident.

Last June, DRNE officials removed several hundred pounds of rotting walleye and other sport fish caught in two 300-foot large mesh gill nets, from Little Bay de Noc. Officials suspect these nets may be connected to the illegal commercial fishing operation because they were located in an area near where the first set of illegal nets were found and they were also set in a similar manner.

In a more recent case of illegal gill netting, two Delta County men were sentenced to jail time last month for using illegal fishing devices.

Kerry Todd Johnson, 27, Cooks, and Daryl John Tatrow, 49, Garden, were arrested by the DNRE for using gills nets on Big Bay de Noc on Nov. 2 when officers seized 1,100 pounds of fish and 1,200 feet of gill net.

Johnson was sentenced to 30 days in jail. Tatrow - also sentenced for attempted resisting/obstructing a conservation officer - was ordered to 180 days in jail and 24 months probation. Each was ordered to pay $1,713 in fines and costs. Each had his fishing license suspended for three years.

During a condemnation hearing on Jan. 29, the two men were ordered to pay $5,552 in joint restitution, minus $860 gained from the DNRE's sale of whitefish confiscated. Johnson and Tatrow were each ordered to pay $2,346 on the remaining balance.

A third man, arrested in connection with the illegal gill-netting on Big Bay de Noc, was to be charged in the Sault Ste. Marie Band of Chippewa Indians Tribal Court for subsistence fishing without a license, according to DNRE officials.

The tribal prosecutor's office did not return telephone inquiries regarding this arrest.

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Jenny Lancour, (906) 786-2021, ext. 143, jlancour@dailypress.net