A Sitka-based seiner has been ordered to pay over $24,000 in fines and restitution – and forfeit his permit for a year – after pleading guilty to illegally fishing three years ago.
Alaska Wildlife Troopers report that 41-year old Jasper Allbrett entered an agreement with the Office of Special Prosecutions to plead guilty to a pair of misdemeanor counts of commercial fishing in closed waters. Allbrett was fined $30,000 with $20,000 suspended, and ordered to pay restitution of $14,700. He’ll serve two years on probation, and his seine permit will be suspended for one year.
According to Trooper dispatch reports, Allbrett in 2019 illegally seined in Black Bay on Chichagof Island, within 500 yards of salmon streams, and subsequently failed to report the catch on his fish ticket. After an investigation, Troopers charged Allbrett in 2021. All charges other than the two misdemeanor counts were dismissed.
Allbrett operates the 58-foot El Dorado. In addition to commercial salmon seining, Allbrett holds permits for black cod and the roe-on-kelp fishery.
