Four face charges for illegal salmon harvesting

Four Homer-area men have been arrested and charged with illegal harvesting of salmon in Dog Fish Bay on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska.

According to a dispatch filed by Alaska Wildlife Troopers, more than 33,000 pounds of salmon were illegally harvested by the quartet. 

Eric Winslow, 61, Paul Roth, 35, Mark Roth, 64, and Robert Roth, 39, all of Homer except for Robert, who is from Anchor Point, were charged with different counts related to illegal fishing activity. Five commercial vessels, the Little Star, the Relentless, the Northstar, the Windstar, and the Marantha were used in the illegal harvest. It was not immediately clear who was piloting the fifth vessel, the Marantha, which was used in transporting the fish.

According to the dispatch, “Four commercial fishing seine vessels were observed to be working together to drive salmon out of the closed water area towards the open water area, and illegally harvesting and transporting those fish. The vessels themselves as well as hand plungers were used by the fishermen in closed waters to drive the fish. The fish were caught by a set that occurred in open and closed waters.”

Alaska's DFO said the boats drove the fish out of the mouth of the river area into a ball, and into the seines set up by the other boats. 

Wildlife officials spotted the illegal fishing vessels last month on July 20 in Dog Fish Bay, also known as Koyuktolik Bay, just south of Homer on the Kenai Peninsula. 

The seized fish was delivered to a processor by officials from the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the state will hold the profits until the judg overseeing the case decides how to proceed. 

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