New England fishermen sentenced in complex herring fraud case

Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Several commercial fishermen in New England have been sentenced in a fraud scheme that centered on a critically important species of bait fish and that prosecutors described as complex and wide-ranging. Prosecutors say the fishermen were sentenced for “knowingly subverting commercial fishing reporting requirements” in a scheme involving Atlantic herring, prosecutors said in a statement. The defendants included owners, captains and crew members of the Western Sea, a ship that operates out of Maine. Prosecutors say Western Sea owner Glenn Robbins pleaded guilty in March to submitting false information to the federal government regarding catch and sale of Atlantic herring and a failure to pay taxes.