A federal jury convicted a Montauk fisherman on Wednesday of falsifying records in order to sell fluke and black sea bass in quantities that vastly exceeded legal limits.
Christopher Winkler, captain of the trawler New Age, was found guilty in federal court in Central Islip on five counts of conspiracy, mail fraud, and obstruction of justice for filing false reports to federal regulators.
Bryan and Asa Gosman, both of Montauk, were also initially charged, but the cousins, who are among the owners of Gosman’s Dock in Montauk, cooperated with the prosecution and testified against Mr. Winkler. Each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and await sentencing.
Richard Levitt, an attorney representing Mr. Winkler, said in an email on Wednesday that Mr. Winkler will appeal the conviction. A sentencing date has not been set, he said, nor have sentencing guidelines been determined.
The United States Department of Justice announced the indictment of the three men in April 2021. The indictment stemmed from about 70 fishing trips that Mr. Winkler made between 2014 and 2017, during which he took fluke and black sea bass in excess of federal catch quotas. The fish was sold to a now-defunct company, Greater New York Fish, at the New Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx. The company was owned in part by Asa Gosman and Bryan Gosman.
After the Bronx company stopped operating, Mr. Winkler continued to sell the allegedly illegal catch to the two men, through Bob Gosman Co., the Justice Department said.
Fluke is a highly regulated species and has long been a source of contention among federal fisheries officials, recreational and commercial fishing advocates, and the representatives of the Mid-Atlantic and New England states. Federal law requires catch reports from both harvesters, such as Mr. Winkler, and fish dealers. The indictment alleged that part of the conspiracy was to falsify the catch reports and dealer reports to cover up the fact that the fish had been landed above quota limits. Mr. Winkler reportedly caught but did not report fish valued at more than $700,000.
Mr. Levitt said in an emailed statement that “Of course, we would have preferred a different verdict but we respect the jury system and we respect our jurors.”
He pointed to a quota system that he called patently unfair. “The principal culprits here, however, are the antiquated fish landing quotas, particularly those for fluke that haven’t changed in some 30 years, which cheat New York fisherman out of their livelihoods, even as New York’s fluke population has been increasing. If Mr. Winkler had caught and landed the same fish in New Jersey, where the landing limits inexplicably are often as much as 10 times those in New York, there likely would not have been a prosecution. As it is, New York fishermen, if they catch above their trip limits, are supposed to throw the fish back into the water, even though these fish are dead and therefore wasted. Other countries use those excess fish to feed the needy or to make fertilizer. There is nothing at all rational about this system, but Mr. Winkler and other Long Island fishermen are easy scapegoats for this regulatory insanity.”
With Reporting by David E. Rattray