ELLSWORTH, Maine — January 8, 2014 — Two dozen members of the Passamaquoddy tribe who were charged by Maine Marine Patrol officers in Hancock and Washington counties with fishing for elvers without a license, even though they did have tribal licenses, won’t have their day in court after all.
According to attorneys involved, there were six such cases pending in Hancock County and 18 pending in Washington County. The relevant cases in Hancock County were dismissed in mid-December while those in Washington County were dismissed at the end of the month, prosecutors said this week.
The dismissals follow a similar decision made in November by Penobscot County District Attorney Chris Almy. Almy dismissed about a dozen cases pending against Passamaquoddys who were cited despite possessing tribal licenses. Prosecutors have made it clear that other defendants, Passamaquoddy or otherwise, who had no licenses of any kind or may have committed other violations such as fishing during closed periods still are being prosecuted.
The cases arose during Maine’s 10-week elver season this past spring, after Marine Patrol, the law enforcement division of the state Department of Marine Resources, charged the defendants with fishing without an elver license, even though they each had an elver license that had been issued by the tribe. Elvers are juvenile American eels that migrate from the Atlantic Ocean into fresh water each spring.