SWAN’S ISLAND, Maine — March 30, 2015 — A local fisherman who just earlier this month was charged with committing multiple scallop fishing violations was found guilty in court last week of committing prior scallop violations more than a year ago.
Justice Robert Murray decided March 25 that Lucas Lemoine had committed the civil violations of fishing in a closed area and fishing without a valid license in January 2014, according to court documents. A trial on the civil charges had been held in Hancock County Unified Criminal Court on the day before Murray issued his decision.
With the civil ruling against him, Lemoine, 33, could lose both his scallop and lobster fishing licenses for several years, according to his attorney, Jeff Toothaker of Ellsworth.
Three weeks ago, on March 9, Lemoine was charged with several more scallop fishing violations after Marine Patrol officers saw him allegedly dragging for scallops at night in an area where an underwater power cable runs between Swan’s Island and Mount Desert Island.
According to Murray’s decision, Swan’s Island Police Chief Paul Gamble twice observed Lemoine fishing in an area that was closed to scallop fishing, once on Jan. 17, 2014, and again four days later. Gamble, who was standing on the shore of Swan’s Island on each day that he saw Lemoine’s boat “Foxy Lady” in the closed area, took photos on Jan. 17 that, according to the judge, show the boat’s tow cable “extending from the stern of the vessel in a taut manner.”
Read the full story from the Bangor Daily News