One morning in July, off Manchester, an environmental police officer warned Dennis Clarkson that it's illegal to take short lobsters from the water.
Clarkson, 62, of Worcester, continued diving for lobsters, that day, this time off Salem. He didn't take any more short lobsters, authorities say.
He just took their claws.
Yesterday, Clarkson paid a total of $750 in fines and fees after pleading guilty to six counts of taking short lobsters by mutilation and a charge of throwing another lobster overboard to avoid detection.
Even as he entered his plea yesterday before Salem District Court Judge Richard Mori, Clarkson insisted he hadn't meant any harm by taking the lobster claws.
"They come off very easy," Clarkson, who represented himself, told the judge. "I didn't know it was against the law."
But in some places, particularly Gloucester, where Mori spent five years as a judge, taking short lobsters is considered by some to merit the death penalty.
"You're killing the business, sir," Mori said, adding that in Gloucester, sometimes the lobstermen "take matters into their own hands" regarding such violations.
Taking a lobster that measures less than 3 1/4 inches from the eye socket to the base of the body shell is illegal because lobsters that size haven't reached maturity and haven't had a chance to reproduce.
The law anticipates that some people, like Clarkson, might try to avoid detection by simply taking the claws, so it is presumed that such claws came from a short lobster.
Steve Levesque, an assistant harbormaster in Salem, was on patrol late on the afternoon of July 14 when he spotted an 18-foot Boston Whaler speeding and creating a wake near Winter Island.
As he approached the boat at the dock, he spotted a cooler and asked if Clarkson had any fishery products on board. Clarkson denied it, but when the cooler was opened, Levesque saw a number of lobsters inside.
Clarkson had 19 full-sized live lobsters in the cooler. But he also had 12 lobster claws, presumed to have been taken off of six lobsters. There were no corresponding lobster bodies in the cooler.
When another assistant harbormaster, Mark Cassola, arrived, he said he overheard Clarkson's wife reminding her husband that she had just read the rule to him earlier that day.
Levesque soon discovered that earlier in the day, Clarkson had been approached by an Environmental Police officer near Manchester, where he was diving. He had been given a ticket and a warning about the law after the environmental officer saw a lobster likely a short lobster being tossed overboard.
Because Clarkson had already been warned, Levesque decided that rather than just write a ticket, he would file a criminal complaint in Salem District Court.
Clarkson, for his part, said he just wanted to resolve the case yesterday, but was quick to point out to the judge, "I did have 19 legal lobsters."
I love that last quote.... apparently this ass hat also didn't know the legal limit is 15.
Clarkson, 62, of Worcester, continued diving for lobsters, that day, this time off Salem. He didn't take any more short lobsters, authorities say.
He just took their claws.
Yesterday, Clarkson paid a total of $750 in fines and fees after pleading guilty to six counts of taking short lobsters by mutilation and a charge of throwing another lobster overboard to avoid detection.
Even as he entered his plea yesterday before Salem District Court Judge Richard Mori, Clarkson insisted he hadn't meant any harm by taking the lobster claws.
"They come off very easy," Clarkson, who represented himself, told the judge. "I didn't know it was against the law."
But in some places, particularly Gloucester, where Mori spent five years as a judge, taking short lobsters is considered by some to merit the death penalty.
"You're killing the business, sir," Mori said, adding that in Gloucester, sometimes the lobstermen "take matters into their own hands" regarding such violations.
Taking a lobster that measures less than 3 1/4 inches from the eye socket to the base of the body shell is illegal because lobsters that size haven't reached maturity and haven't had a chance to reproduce.
The law anticipates that some people, like Clarkson, might try to avoid detection by simply taking the claws, so it is presumed that such claws came from a short lobster.
Steve Levesque, an assistant harbormaster in Salem, was on patrol late on the afternoon of July 14 when he spotted an 18-foot Boston Whaler speeding and creating a wake near Winter Island.
As he approached the boat at the dock, he spotted a cooler and asked if Clarkson had any fishery products on board. Clarkson denied it, but when the cooler was opened, Levesque saw a number of lobsters inside.
Clarkson had 19 full-sized live lobsters in the cooler. But he also had 12 lobster claws, presumed to have been taken off of six lobsters. There were no corresponding lobster bodies in the cooler.
When another assistant harbormaster, Mark Cassola, arrived, he said he overheard Clarkson's wife reminding her husband that she had just read the rule to him earlier that day.
Levesque soon discovered that earlier in the day, Clarkson had been approached by an Environmental Police officer near Manchester, where he was diving. He had been given a ticket and a warning about the law after the environmental officer saw a lobster likely a short lobster being tossed overboard.
Because Clarkson had already been warned, Levesque decided that rather than just write a ticket, he would file a criminal complaint in Salem District Court.
Clarkson, for his part, said he just wanted to resolve the case yesterday, but was quick to point out to the judge, "I did have 19 legal lobsters."
I love that last quote.... apparently this ass hat also didn't know the legal limit is 15.
