The police chief of the Passamaquoddy tribe’s community at Indian Township is facing a misdemeanor criminal charge in Hancock County for allegedly removing baby eels, also known as elvers, from someone else’s fishing net, according to officials.
Alexander Nicholas I, 55, and his son, Alexander Nicholas II, 37, each are facing a Class D charge of emptying another fisherman’s net as a result of the same incident, Hancock County District Attorney Matthew Foster said Monday.
Jeff Nichols, spokesman for the Maine Department of Marine Resources, on Monday confirmed that the Passamaquoddy police chief is facing the Class D charge for the alleged fishing violation.
Class D crimes in Maine are punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
Attempts Monday and Tuesday to contact Nicholas, the tribal police chief, were unsuccessful. Nicholas also is an elected member of Indian Township’s tribal council.
The incident involving the duo occurred April 7 in Orland at a site on the Orland River off Route 175, also known as Castine Road, officials said.
According to Foster, Marine Patrol officers went to investigate after receiving a complaint about littering at the property, and then came across the father and son tending to fyke nets, which are large, funnel-shaped stationary nets that fishermen set up along the edge of tidal rivers. He said the duo was part of a quartet of licensed fishermen who had set up their nets together. The other two fishermen were not present when the Marine Patrol officers observed the father and son emptying out one of the nets that did not belong to either of them.
Maine state law requires every fyke net to bear a tag that displays the name of the elver license holder who owns the net. Only that license holder is permitted to remove elvers from his or her net.
Nichols said there were a quarter pound of elvers involved in the incident. Prices have varied since the season started in late March, with the average statewide price rising from around $1,600 a pound on opening day to more than $2,000 per pound on April 28, according to DMR statistics.
Foster said the Marine Patrol allowed the fisherman whose net was emptied to keep the elvers, which had been legally caught.
The Nicholases are scheduled to appear in court in Ellsworth on June 4.
Maine is one of only two states that allow fishing for baby eels. It is one of the most lucrative fisheries in Maine and by far the most valuable per pound.
There typically are between 2,000 and 2,500 elvers in one pound. The vast majority of elvers caught in Maine are shipped to Asia where they are reared in aquaculture ponds and then harvested for the global seafood market, primarily for use in sushi.
