Emily M. Sweeney, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced the charges against Jackson, which is the result of an unprecedented international investigative effort by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Ohio Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal wildlife laws.
The charges state that in November 1997, Jackson was observed illegally harvesting fish from U.S. waters of Lake Erie in violation of Ohio state law. A U.S. Coast Guard patrol aircraft observed Jacksons 60-foot fishing vessel, L.R. Jackson, operating within U.S. waters of Lake Erie. The Coast Guard crew also videotaped Jacksons illegal harvesting of fish by gill net from the lake.
U.S. laws strictly regulate fish harvests and commercial fishing on U.S. waters of the Great Lakes. Canadian law, however, encourages commercial fishing in Canadian waters, including the use of gill nets. Gills nets are forbidden in the U.S. waters of Lake Erie. Lake Erie is home to the largest Canadian commercial fishing fleet on the Great Lakes. Because of their large numbers, and the competition for fish in Canadian waters, some fisherman are tempted to venture illegally in to U.S. waters in search of a better catch.
The Coast Guard and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have been working together for the past 10 years in an effort to increase patrols of the Great Lakes fisheries, said Special Agent Daniel LeClair of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. According to LeClair, who is leading the investigation, the Jackson case is not the first incident of illegal fishing by Canadians on Lake Erie.
With the full cooperation and assistance of the U.S. Coast Guard, weve cited other Canadian fishermen for illegal harvest of fish on the Lake in the past, but the cases were referred through the civil process, said LeClair. The Canadians have known for some time that we were going to get tougher on violators.
No trial date has yet been set, according to Sweeney.
Patrolling of Americas fisheries is a long-standing mission for the Coast Guard. Until recently, patrols have been primarily conducted on U.S. coastal waters. Protection of Great Lakes fisheries is a burgeoning mission for the Coast Guard, according to Coast Guard Spokesman, Lt. Jerry Popiel.
The Lacey Act is a federal law that prohibits the receipt, possession, transportation and sale of any fish and wildlife which has been unlawfully taken or obtained in violation of international, federal or state laws.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
