A commercial salmon seine captain from Prince of Wales Island has been sentenced on multiple misdemeanor counts related to fishing in closed waters, fishing too close to a salmon spawning stream, and falsifying his commercial fish ticket.
Curtis Demmert was sentenced on Jan. 10 by a court on Prince of Wales Island, to a fine of $32,728.79, 180 days of suspended jail time, forfeit of $17,728.79 from the illegally caught salmon and forfeit of the F/V Tlingit Lady, the sine skiff, seine nets and everything on board the vessel to the state of Alaska.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Aaron Peterson for the Alaska Department of Law’s Office of Special Prosecutions. Peterson argued that Demmert took a calculated risk when he fished far into closed waters for potentially significant monetary gain and that his actions put a salmon run in peril.
In arguing for forfeiture of the fishing vessel, Peterson said “other commercial fishermen and the general public must know that if a fisherman commits an offense this egregious, the vessels and instrumentalities used in aid of the violation will be lost to them.”
The investigation began in September, when Alaska Wildlife Troopers received a report that the F/V Tlingit Lady, a 58-foot commercial seiner captained by Demmert, was seining for salmon at the head of Coco Harbor, roughly 65 miles into closed waters.
