HOMER — A Soldotna sportfish guide has been ordered to pay $5,000 and has had his guiding privileges suspended after being charged with illegally taking halibut for himself while on two fishing trips.
Mel Erickson pleaded guilty to two fishing violations Oct. 20. A judge dismissed 41 other charges against him as part of a plea deal Erickson reached with prosecutors, The Homer News reported.
The charges stem from fishing trips the 55-year-old man guided in lower Cook Inlet.
Wildlife Trooper Trent Chwialkowski said in a 2015 complaint that Erickson took more than the limit of king salmon and halibut, failed to record the catch and illegally took halibut as a guide. He was also accused of unlawfully discarding halibut carcasses.
Chwialkowski had confronted Erickson after receiving an anonymous tip on May 19, 2015, telling him to look at Erickson’s Facebook page for his Alaskan Gamefisher charter business. The wildlife trooper monitored Erickson the next day as he launched his boat at the Anchor Point beach and later contacted the Gamefisher.
At Erickson’s change of plea hearing last month, the judge fined him $10,000 with $5,000 suspended. His guiding privileges will be reinstated in June 2018.
Assistant District Attorney Sam Scott and Erickson’s lawyer, Joe Skrha, agreed to reducing the initial charges from a misdemeanor to a violation, according to court documents. Skrha had said he would oppose Torres’ motion challenging the reduced charges.
