October 13, 2017 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Judge William Young’s judgment filed Wednesday appeared to be the finish line to Carlos Rafael’s case. Young, though, by ordering the forfeiture of four vessels and every permit associated with the Bull Dog, the Olivia and Rafaela, the Lady Patricia and the Southern Crusader II began a new ripple effect throughout the commercial fishing industry revealing some questions but very little answers.
It’s likely NOAA will take center stage now that the Department of Justice has closed its case. NOAA can bring civil penalties to Rafael.
The Environmental Defense Fund released a statement after Young’s ruling calling for NOAA to “pursue civil remedies to further aid the victims of Carlos Rafael’s crimes.”
They can range from fines to indefinite bans within commercial fishing.
NOAA issued indefinite bans to James G. Spalt and Peter Spalt, former Cape Cod scallopers, in 1996 to go with a more than $4 million fine. More than 20 years later, they remain outside the industry with no way to return.
The allegations levied toward the Spalt brothers included some of the same offenses Rafael pleaded guilty to, but also expanded beyond falsifying fishing quotas.