Anchorage, Alaska B U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced that an Oregon man was convicted in federal court in Anchorage on Thursday, August 2, 2012, for two counts of falsely reporting where he caught fish pursuant to the Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Cooper who prosecuted the case, Freddie Joe Hankins, 47, a resident of Cove Oregon, was convicted by a jury of two counts of falsely reporting which regulatory area in the Gulf of Alaska he caught his IFQ halibut.  Specifically, in 2007, Hankins caught halibut in an area where he was not authorized to fish (he did not have ‘quota’) and falsely reported that he caught the halibut in a regulatory area where he did have quota. Arne Fuglvog, former fisheries aide to Lisa Murkowski, currently serving time for his fisheries convictions, testified that he had fished with Hankins and it was Hankins’ practice to falsely report where he fished for IFQ halibut because the fishing was better in the regulatory area where Hankins did not have quota. Other witnesses described another incident in 2007 regarding where Hankins had falsified a landing report to conceal the fact that he had exceeded the allowable by-catch of rockfish.  The jury acquitted Hankins on two other counts of false reporting.

U.S. District Court Judge Russell H. Holland scheduled sentencing of Hankins for October 12, 2012.  Hankins faces a maximum of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both. 

Ms. Loeffler commends the Office of Law Enforcement of the National Oceans and Atmospheric Administration for the investigation of this case.

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