Yo bud! I am glad you did well, but you should not be giving the NS any business!
Maybe you do not know, but our"friend" captain Barrus was caught by a sting operation last year.
He was allowing customers from NY to bring livewells on board to keep live blackfish to be sold on the blackmarket.
Many of the customers involved were over the limit and had undersize fish.
The captain and deckhands contributed to this catch as well!
The NS has a tarnished reputation, and rightly so. This is not the first time they have gotten in trouble for this type of behavior.
The captain is skilled at putting people his fares on fish, but allowing and even contributing to this type of behavior is just wrong!
The recreational limits on tog are being cut back significantly, and it is this type of behavior that contributes to lost opportunity for many honest ethical anglers.
There are many other good party boats in NJ for tog fishing. I would recommend the Big Mohawk out of Belmar as my first choice followed by the Capt. Cal out of the same marina. I would also try one of the Bogan's boats out of the Point Pleasant area.
Please do not give your business to a person who is hurting others in the angling community.
Anglers pay $5,000 in fines in blackfish sting
By JACK KASKEY Staff Writer, (609) 272-7213, E-Mail
OCEAN CITY - Seven anglers caught in a state fishing sting pleaded guilty Tuesday to 17 citations involving illegal possession of blackfish aboard a party boat here, paying nearly $5,000 in fines and costs.
Many of those who pleaded guilty said they just wanted to put the matter behind them, even though they feel they did nothing wrong.
Alan Dresner, 51, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to possession of 19 blackfish over the limit, totaling more than 100 pounds. He agreed to pay $825.
"Let them go get the real criminals, instead of wasting taxpayers' money," Dresner said as he paid his fine.
Law enforcement officials are considering filing criminal charges against eight other anglers, including Paul Barrus Jr., of Marmora, owner of the North Star party boat, and boat Capt. Chris Hyland.
Municipal Court Judge Richard A. Russell postponed action on 72 citations issued to Barrus, Hyland and the remaining anglers at the request of the state Attorney General's Office, which is investigating possible criminal charges.
Marine enforcement officers allege the boat hosted an illegal trade in live blackfish that supplied hundreds, perhaps thousands, of fish to Asian restaurants in New York and Philadelphia. An officer posing as a fisherman aboard the North Star gathered evidence over 18 months, ending with an April sting operation.
Asian cooks prize young, fresh blackfish, also called tautog or tog. An undersized, live fish can fetch $4 to $5 a pound, three to four times what a dead one fetches wholesale.
Some of the New Yorkers who pleaded guilty Tuesday complained of the numerous postponements in the court date, each of which meant a missed day of work and six to eight hours in a car.
Froilan Vazquez and Randy Brown, both of the Bronx, said the only time in the past two years they were on the North Star was a two-day trip on Jan. 28 and 29. It happened to be when an undercover officer was aboard.
"We came down here for the big fish," Brown said, noting the world record blackfish, a 25-pounder, was caught aboard the North Star in 1998.
The pair thought they each could keep 20 blackfish, because the daily limit is 10. But enforcement officers said the limit applies to the number of fish in an angler's possession, and they were charged with exceeding it.
Brown pleaded guilty to possession of five fish over the limit and four undersized fish, paying $290 in fines and court costs. Vazquez pleaded guilty to possession of five blackfish over the limit and eight fish under the minimum size of 14 inches. He paid $310 in fines and costs.
"I just happened to get on that boat on the wrong day," Vazquez aid. "After that day, everything I bring up, I measure."
Also pleading guilty Tuesday to blackfish-related charges were Steven Groenewoud 32, of Poughkeepsie, N.Y, who paid $1,560; Aracelio Lopez who paid $1,135; Anthony Reyes who paid $285 and James Whitten who paid $430.
Meceo McEaddy, who was issued four citations, failed to appear in court.
The judge honored the state Attorney General's request to postpone action against the boat owner and captain, as well as anglers Anthony Belisario, Chueng Lan, Tse Tian Wei, Kenneth Krause III, Michael Dougherty and Peter Lewis.
Lewis wanted to plead guilty, but Russell would not let him because of a citation for buying fish illegally, potentially an indictable offense.
"I'm a working man," the Bronx resident told the judge. "I can't afford to keep coming down here. I don't have a car."
The judge told him not to plead guilty to anything until authorities decide whom to indict with a crime. The lesser charges could be used as bargaining chips in a plea bargain, he advised Lewis from the bench.
"I'm sorry about the inconvenience, but they filed hundreds of tickets and they are trying to sort it out," Russell said.
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has proposed halving the legal blackfish catch next year, because too many are being caught. The commission this spring decided to study the magnitude of the illegal trade.
NightStrikes
This is just one of many of these types of articles that have appeared recently.
