Coden seafood business owner pleads guilty to conspiracy involving illegally caught fish

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A Coden seafood business owner pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to buy and sell illegally caught fish.

Richard Michael Collier Jr., owner of PJ’s Seafood, entered a plea in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act. The Conservation Act of 1900 regulates fish, fauna and flora. He admitted that the market value of fish sold interstate between May 2019 and April 2022 was between $250,000 and $550,000.

A judge set Collier’s sentencing for February. The maximum sentence is five years in prison, although prosecutors agreed to recommend leniency. As part of the plea agreement, Collier agreed to give up his Alabama gillnet fishing license and refrain from operating any business involved in the sale of seafood, except oysters. .

Collier’s written plea agreement says the conspiracy involved redfish and speckled trout caught in Alabama and Mississippi in violation of those states’ laws.

It is illegal to catch these fish in Alabama, and Mississippi requires commercial fishermen to complete Mississippi travel tickets, which helps the state monitor the health of fisheries. Collier admitted to falsifying information on travel tickets, including the quantity and location of fish caught.

Agents from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Alabama Marine Police monitored the PJ’s seafood loading area to monitor fish sales. They found speckled trout and redfish hidden in compartments and then sold to Collier, according to the plea agreement, according to court records. Monitoring also indicated that some of the boats were equipped with gill nets, which are banned in Alabama for game fishing.

The plea document says that on some days, GPS data revealed the fishermen were in Mobile Bay on dates when Mississippi travel tickets indicated they were in that state.

The plea agreement documents thousands of pounds of illegally caught game that PJ’s Seafood purchased illegally and then sold to interstate distributors. These included businesses in Thomasville, Ga., Pensacola and Theodore.

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