Eleven Buffalo, N.Y., area fishing guides pleaded guilty to violating nearly a dozen federal and state laws protecting migratory birds. The violations ranged from failing to tag a carcass, to taking more than the daily limit of birds, to transporting live wounded game birds. The 11 men paid a total of $14,450 in fines between April and June.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agents documented hundreds of migratory bird hunting violations during the three-year investigation concluded in 2006 of the independent guide services. The "cast and blast" hunts combined fishing with sea duck hunting on the Niagara River and Lake Ontario.
Most of the birds killed were long-tailed ducks and white-winged scoters. One attempt was made to kill a common loon, for which there is no hunting season.
"The guides were operating like the Wild West, as if hunting was unregulated," according to Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Healy of the Services Northeast Region. "They showed complete disregard for laws protecting migratory birds. When confronted, some individuals said they knew it was just a matter of time before an investigation caught them."
Some guides instructed Service agents to sit on the bow of the boat and shoot at ducks while the boat chased them.
The men paid fines starting at a low of $125. Two men were fined $3,225 each for violations including shooting from a motorized vehicle, exceeding the daily bag limit, wanton waste, transporting live wounded game birds, transporting illegally taken migratory birds and carcass tagging violations.
The fined guides were:
Matthew Cipollitti, Niagara Cataract Guide Service -- $3,225
Mark McGranahan, Sparky's Charters -- $3,225
Eric Elenfeldt, Fish Hooks Charter Service -- $2,800
Ernest Calandrelli of Ernie's Guide Service -- $2,000
Phillip Rowan, Phil's Guide Service -- $925
Roy Larson, Prospector Charters -- $875
Joseph Fonzi, Thumbs Up Guide Service -- $475
John DeLorenzo, Niagara River Guide Service -- $350
Joseph Cinelli, Cinelli's Niagara River Guide Service -- $225
Barry Schultz, Schultz's Guide Service -- $225
Anthony LaRosa, Chopper's Guide Service -- $125
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and citizen complaints prompted the Service to investigate the guiding services.
The fines have gone to the North American Wetland Conservation Fund where they will be used to benefit wetlands, which provide habitat for birds like those illegally killed.
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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 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 and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
-FWS-
