Five Maine fishermen and one fisherman from New Hampshire took a plea deal on Monday ending their trial on charges of catching and selling millions of pounds of unreported Atlantic herring, the Courier-Gazette reported.
Glenn Robbins, 76, of Eliot; Ethan Chase, 46, of Portsmouth, N.H.; Neil Herrick, 48, of Rockland; Stephen Little, 58, of Warren; Jason Parent, 51, of Owls Head were indicted in January 2022 on 35 counts of conspiracy, fraud and falsifying fishing records, according to court records. Also indicted was Western Sea, Inc., the business that owns the Rockland-based vessel used to catch the fish.
The six men were accused of making more than 80 fishing trips for herring in the Gulf of Maine on the vessel Western Sea between June of 2016 and September of 2019, and not reporting their catch to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA is tasked with maintaining accurate fishing records in order to set policies to sustain fisheries.
The indictment alleged that crew members sold more than 2.6 million pounds of herring to five fish dealers and three lobster boat captains, and that three of the dealers paid a total of more than $460,000 for the unreported herring.
On Monday, Robbins, the owner of Western Sea, according to court records, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to submit false information to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce about his catch and sale of Atlantic herring, and willfully delivering false information to the secretary of the treasury, the Courier-Gazette reported.
Chase, Herrick, Little and Parent, crewmembers on the boat, each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to submit false information to the commerce secretary, and failing to pay income tax.
All other counts against the six defendants, including conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, mail fraud and falsification of records, were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
The defendants could receive sentences of up to a year in prison, fines of up to $100,000, and up to one year of supervised release, according to the Courier-Gazette.
Bangor Daily News reporter Bill Trotter contributed to this story.
