Saving Seafood

Stafford fisherman free from British Virgin Islands jail after plea deal

November 3, 2020 โ€” After a five-month ordeal in which he was imprisoned in the British Virgin Islands, Stafford fisherman Michael Foy accepted a plea deal Friday and is free to go, aside from paying a $4,000 fine.

Foy, 60, was arrested June 8 by British Virgin Islands custom officials and charged with illegal entry for violating the islandsโ€™ COVID-19 curfew.

He was subsequently charged with unregistered and unlicensed fishing, and failure to arrive at a customs port.

The Magistrates Court dropped the illegal fishing charges on Oct. 9. Foyโ€™s attorney Paul Edwards of the law firm Hunte & Co. on Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands, said Foy accepted a plea deal that would allow him to keep his fishing vessel, Rebel Lady.

Read the full story at the Asbury Park Press

U.S. longline captain granted bail while awaiting trial in British Virgin Islands

October 5, 2020 โ€” After more than three months behind bars, U.S. longline fishing captain Michael Foy will be released on bail in the British Virgin Islands while awaiting trial on charges of illegal fishing and illegally entering Tortolaโ€™s port, according to his family and lawyers.

โ€œToday was his 10th court date for an alleged illegal immigration violation,โ€ brother Joe Foy said late Friday. โ€œThereโ€™s all kinds of paperwork to be done, but he will be out of there (Tortola jail) on Monday.โ€

The captainโ€™s movements are restricted, and he is staying with a Tortola resident who authorities have accepted as Foyโ€™s sponsor during his bonded release, said Joe Foy.

A trial is tentatively scheduled for next week โ€“ probably another remote video hearing, as BVI is under a continuing partial lockdown to control the spread of covid-19, he said. Earlier court dates have been repeatedly cancelled or postponed.

Foy, 60, of Manahawkin, N.J., was jailed June 11, initially charged with illegal entry in violation of the islandโ€™s covid-19 precautions, then hit with a charge of illegal fishing, although he had been fishing south of his home port in Puerto Rico far away from BVI waters.

Read the full story at National Fisherman