Three North Carolina fish house dealers were recently found guilty of buying protected red drum without reporting the transactions to the state, according to the NC Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF).
Convicted of buying red drum without recording the transactions on a trip ticket were Donald Carlisle Gilgo of Coastal Seafood in Sea Level, William Jerry Warren of Fresh Ketch in Grantsboro and Floyd Shelton Cuthrell of S&S Seafood in Aurora.
Red drum are North Carolina’s state saltwater fish. NC is one of the few states left which has a red drum population but still permits commercial fishermen to catch and sell them, so transactions between fish house and commercial fishermen are closely monitored.
According to the DMF, the cases began in October 2009 when NC Marine Patrol officers received information that a fish dealer in Carteret County was possibly buying large amounts of red drum from local fishermen and not recording the transactions as required by state law. At the time, state fishing rules allowed fishermen to harvest and sell only seven red drum per day, and the weight of the red drum could not exceed the weight of other fish, like flounder and mullet, in the catch.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Charlotte Fish And Wildlife Policy Examiner.