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News Release RI Department of Environmental Management 235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908 (401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
DEM INVESTIGATION OF IRREGULARITIES IN THE NORTH CAPE LOBSTER RESTORATION PROGRAM RESULTS IN INDICTMENTS OF FOUR FISHERMEN BY THE STATEWIDE GRAND JURY PROVIDENCE - The Statewide Grand Jury handed up four indictments on December 9 naming four commercial lobstermen on counts of obtaining over $500 under false pretenses and filing false documents. The lobstermen had participated in the Honor Program component of the North Cape Lobster Restoration Program. The Honor Program was terminated in June at the request of the Trustees for the North Cape Settlement Funds.The four fishermen under indictment are Edward T. Duckworth, Jr., 38, of 95 Point Judith Road, Narragansett; Michael B. Handrigan, 38, of 8 Conant Ave., Narragansett; Frank Garofano, III, 43, 24 River View Drive, Charlestown; and Bruce E. Kopf, 50, 85 Sand Hill Cove Road, Narragansett. They will be arraigned in Washington Superior Court on January 5. In May, a fifth lobsterman, Eric J. Winn, 48, of 1892 Ministerial Road, South Kingstown, pled nolo contendre to charges of obtaining money under false pretenses and filing false documents for his participation in the Honor Program. The North Cape Lobster Restoration Program is an element of the 2000 consent decree between the responsible party and the state and federal authorities that addresses the restoration of the marine resources impacted by the 1996 North Cape oil spill. The spill released 828,000 gallons of home heating oil into Rhode Island Sound and led to the loss of many living resources, including more than nine million lobsters. Under the consent decree, the responsible party is required to restore lost lobsters by V-notching - i.e. clipping v-shaped notches on the tails of - 1,248,000 legal-sized female lobsters. The V-notched lobsters are then returned to the water and are illegal to possess until they molt and the notch disappears. This process extends the reproductive lives of these lobsters by allowing them to produce more eggs. Under the Honor Program, participating fishermen were allowed to notch 25 adult female lobsters per day of fishing. The fisherman then turned in the V-shaped pieces, referred to as chads, along with a form that detailed their fishing activity that day, including the number of lobsters they had notched. The fishermen were then paid the prevailing market rate for a 1 ¼ pound lobster plus an incentive for each chad. In the fall of 2002, after receiving reports of alleged wrongdoings by one of the 20 participants in the Honors Program, DEM launched an investigation focusing on five boats, four of which were randomly chosen. The investigation revealed that each of the five, on certain days, sought and received payments based on false claims. -30- |
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