Seafood auction gets ban of 10 days

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sent the auction a letter saying that it cannot buy, possess, or sell federally regulated fish for 10 consecutive days. The action follows the end of a lengthy appeals process, in which the auction was found to have violated the terms of a 2003 settlement with the federal government.

“If dealers buy fish that are not properly accounted for, then it is impossible to manage the stocks in a responsible way,’’ said Andrew Cohen, special agent in charge for the National Marine Fisheries Service, which brought the case against the auction house.

“They are a problem,’’ Cohen said of the auction, “which is why we are prosecuting them.’’

Auction co-owner Larry Ciulla, who said he had not been notified of the decision when approached by reporters yesterday afternoon, declined to comment after receiving the notice later in the day.

Fishing boat captain Paul Cohan, however, reacted with disdain as he stood near the fish auction. Cohan, who has been fishing for 30 years, said that regulators “basically have nothing but contempt for fishermen, and it’s shown in their heavy-handed enforcement policies.’’

According to regulators, the auction was found to have bought a total of 20,691 pounds of illegal cod on nine occasions from July to September 2000. In addition, the auction falsified 35 records in an effort to hide those purchases, the investigation found.

Officials hit the business with a 60-day ban on selling federally regulated fish, but later reached a settlement in which the shutdown was reduced to 15 days, with 10 suspended, if no significant new violations occurred for a year. Less than six months later, regulators discovered, the auction falsified new records involving illegally landed cod.

“The auction agreed to the terms of the settlement, and then turned around and had another serious violation,’’ Cohen said. “It’s an important violation because the vast majority of the industry is in compliance.’’

The letter asks the auction, which sells 15 million pounds of fish a year, to inform NOAA by Wednesday whether there is a legal reason why the closing should not occur. If there is no valid reason, the letter said, the auction has until July 13 to begin its 10-day shutdown.

Cohen said the penalty is necessary to ensure that all fishermen are treated the same.

“What we’re trying to do is level the playing field,’’ said Cohen, who estimated that 98 percent of the US fishing fleet from the Canadian border to the Carolinas adheres to the law. “We’re really trying to keep the industry alive.’’

Cohan, the fishing captain, said regulators are overzealous in their enforcement efforts, which he said punish fishermen who often are unable to weigh their catch properly while at sea.

Business is “abysmal,’’ said Cohan, 55, a former president of the Gulf of Maine Fishermen’s Alliance.

“We’re given no time to go where we can’t go,’’ Cohan said in a tongue-in-cheek description of restrictions faced by the fishing fleet. “And we can’t bring in what we can’t catch when we go where we can’t go.’’

NOAA, however, counters that restrictions are necessary to maintain sustainable stocks.

“Our nation’s fishery management laws are in place to help rebuild fish populations to ensure productive fishing livelihoods and healthy seafood for our people,’’ the agency said in a statement that announced the auction closing. “Compliance with our fisheries laws is critical to making fisheries management work.’’

In addition to the pending 10-day closing, a 120-day shutdown is being sought by regulators for alleged violations by the auction house from 2004 to 2006. In that case, announced Feb. 13, the National Marine Fisheries Service has charged that the auction bought illegally landed fish more than 200 times, for a total of 66,000 pounds, over those years. In addition to the closure, the charges carry a $355,200 fine.