NEW BEDFORD — Jim Kendall says he really didn't expect that a review of NOAA's fisheries enforcement in his case would result in him getting any money.
After all, his brush with the law happened 19 years ago. His employer, Roy Enoksen at Eastern Fisheries, had paid the fine. And for some reason, there aren't any records of it in the NOAA offices (insert shredding joke here).
But Kendall, a fisherman for 32 years until he retired because of injury and became a seafood consultant, still wanted to make a point. The episode taught him how tricky, inflexible and excessive the methods of the law enforcement agents were — and are. A single violation that day in 1982 drew a penalty of $14,070 — a lot for most people, but only a little in the world of fisheries law enforcement.
As Swartwood wrote, "First, Mr. Kendall opines that it is common knowledge in the fishing industry that it is best to settle a case rather than file an appeal …, and second, that fishermen are worried and paranoid whenever they come into port because of fears that they may be in violation of some obscure or changed regulation involving turtles, fish sizes, closed areas, mesh requirements, etc."
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