Pirate Poachers of the Chesapeake: Piney Point’s Lumpkins boat caught red-handed with thousands of illegal croakers

The vessel was holding about 14,000 pounds of croaker and other species of fish, many appearing to be undersized. Seventeen NRP officers from four counties were assigned to measure the entire catch, an effort that took 12 hours. The fish were kept under refrigeration in trucks provided by the waterman.
Approximately 3,500 pounds—or 25 percent—of the catch were found to be undersized. Those fish were seized and returned to the water.

Hagerstown crabhouse double-dipper in poaching sting for undersize crabs

HAGERSTOWN, MD. — According to the Maryland Natural Resources Police, a follow-up visit to a Hagerstown seafood shop charged earlier in the month with selling illegal crabs yielded more of the same last Thursday, the Maryland Natural Resources Police reported.

An officer conducting an inspection at Cameron’s Seafood on Dual Highway discovered one bushel with 82 undersized crabs and another with 42 undersized crabs. On Aug. 1, he found one bushel with 110 undersized crabs and another with 59 undersized crabs.

For the latest violations, Hussein Kato Katende, 38, of Columbia, was issued two citations and the crabs were delivered to a Hagerstown food bank.