For Release: August 26, 1998

Contact: Steven Hall 222-2284

PROVIDENCE - Joseph F. Roque, 42, of 4 Sequin Court, Charlestown, pleaded no contest before Judge Michael Higgins in Fourth Division District Court, Charlestown this morning, August 26, of possession of 21 undersized lobsters and was fined $10,500 and court costs. He was also given a one year suspended jail sentence and was put on one year's probation for the misdemeanors.

Roque was arrested by Department of Environmental Management environmental police officers for possession of the undersized lobsters on July 2 as he was landing his boat at the Point Judith docks. The disposition was reached at a pre-trial conference this morning.

"The significant fine - the second such high fine imposed this month on a commercial fisherman - indicates the concern of the state in protecting the state's fisheries," said Steven Hall, Chief of DEM's Division of Enforcement. On August 11 a Portsmouth fish trap operator was fined $10,000 for selling undersized and untagged stripers.