A Pelican fisherman has been ordered to pay $12,000 in fines, plus applicable fisheries taxes, for selling commercially-caught salmon to charter clients without submitting fish tickets to the state.
67-year old James Steven Daniels entered into an agreement with the state Office of Special Prosecutions, and pleaded guilty to three counts each of failing to obtain a fisheries business license, and failing to submit fish tickets, over a three-year period between 2018 and 2020.
Daniels was fined a total of $30,000, with $18,000 suspended, and placed on probation for two years.
The charges stem from an investigation into Daniels’ operation of the commercial troll vessel F/V Pelican on trips to provide salmon to clients of the Highliner Lodge in Pelican, about 70 miles west of Juneau on Chichagof Island. Daniels was originally charged with thirteen counts of failing to obtain a fisheries business license, and for reporting the fish sold as “for personal use.”
As part of his plea agreement, all but six counts against Daniels were dropped, as well as charges in a later case.
Note: Daniels has been the subject of previous KCAW reporting on the controversy surrounding the sale of a processing plant in Pelican. Read the full story here.
