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Two charged in perch poaching
By Don Lehman
The Post Star
Friday, March 21, 2008
FORT ANN - Sometimes the urge to take home a few hundred yellow perch is too much to overcome.
Maybe that's the explanation to be offered by two local men who were arrested this week -- for a second time in less than a month -- for allegedly taking far more than their daily limit of perch while fishing on Lake George.
This time, though, instead of remaining on the ice as state conservation officers approached them on Saturday, the men fled on four-wheelers, said Joseph Schneider, a captain with the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The men escaped, leaving their catch -- more than 430 perch -- behind. But conservation Officer Ben Bramlage, who helped arrest the two last month, recognized the men and issued them appearance tickets this week, Schneider said.
This time, one of the men had 195 more fish than the 50-fish limit, while the other had 138 more than the limit, officials said.
Fort Ann residents John L. Fisher, 30, and Patrick Collins, 43, face a host of non-criminal violations, including one that accuses them of illegal commercialization of wildlife. That charge was brought because the possession of more than double the limit of perch is "presumptive evidence" they planned to sell the fish, Schneider said.
Several local bait shops legally buy fish from anglers to sell to companies that put them in the human food chain, though the practice is controversial because it can lead to over fishing. As a result, state legislators are weighing proposed laws that would ban the practice.
Other charges against the duo include operating all-terrain vehicles without helmets and failure to comply with law enforcement officers.
The latest arrest came after Bramlage and DEC Lt. John Ellithorpe spotted the men fishing off the Fort Ann town beach Saturday afternoon. The officers watched for a while and concluded the men had kept more fish than their limit, officials said.
Though the men sped off on four-wheelers as the officers approached, Bramlage got within 50 feet of them and recognized them, and a truck belonging to one of the men was also parked nearby, he said.
Both men were released pending prosecution in Fort Ann Town Court.
The charge that accuses them of commercialization of wildlife is punishable by a minimum $500 fine.
Fisher, Collins and two other men were also arrested Feb. 16 after they were found to have 294 more perch than their limit.
All four pleaded guilty to a charge they exceeded their daily limit and were fined $250 apiece.
Their cases generated controversy in recent days when an area bar where they hang out organized a fundraising perch fry to help pay their legal fees in the case.
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