Maine Attorney General Janet Mills said Oct. 1 that Paul L. Griffin, Jr., 44, an elver fisherman from Waldoboro, was sentenced on Sept. 28, 2015 in Lincoln County Superior Court to a jail term of 364 days, all but 90 days suspended and one year of administrative release for underreporting fish harvests.

In 2012 and 2013, Griffin underreported his elver harvests to the Department of Marine Resources and then failed to file Maine income tax returns for these years during which he earned over $370,000 each year, according to a news release.

Griffin had previously pleaded guilty to income tax evasion and failure to file and pay income taxes for years 2009 and 2011 through 2013. Griffin will also pay restitution of $67,762 and forfeit his ability to harvest elvers for the 2016 season. Griffin has already paid $6,500 in restitution and will be required to make regular payments towards the remaining balance.

The investigations into the underreporting of elver harvesting have highlighted the need for harvesters to truthfully report their harvests so that the Department of Marine Resources can effectively manage and conserve Maine's fishery, Mills said, in the release.

"Elver harvesting can be extremely lucrative, but we must take management of the resource very seriously, or the fishery could be gone for good,” she said. “A few bad actors could jeopardize the entire fishery. This case demonstrates excellent collaboration between different state agencies and the Attorney General's Office appreciates the cooperation we received."

According to the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the elver harvest as it carried out today, began in the early 1970s, when Asian countries deepened their demand for the fish. 

The elver market slipped from 1979 to the early 1990s, but demand picked up again, and are highly valued in Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea, “where they are cultured and reared to adult size for the food fish market. Due to recent intense market demand, elvers have now become the most valuable marine resource in terms of price per pound which varies from $25 to $350. The fishing season for elvers is restricted to March 22 through May 31. Harvest methods are restricted to hand dip net and fyke nets with no more than two fyke nets allowed per license holder, depending on the license holder's history.”

This case was investigated by the Maine Revenue Services' Criminal Investigations Unit and the Department of Marine Resources. Assistant Attorney General Gregg D. Bernstein handled this matter for the Attorney General's Criminal Division.