For years there have been rumors of non-residents slipping into the resident-only dipnet fishery on the Kenai Peninsula to plunder Alaska's salmon, and now Alaska State Troopers believe they've caught one of the bandits.
Troopers have charged 41-year-old Ty Sakurada with lying about his residency to get a resident fishing license, and then using that license to get one of those Kenai personal-use dipnet permits reserved for residents.
According to a trooper dispatch, an investigation "showed that Sakurada had arrived in Alaska on July 12 and shortly thereafter purchased a resident sport-fishing license and obtained a 2012 Upper Cook Inlet dip-net permit."
Sakurada -- who troopers say claimed to have been a 14-month resident of the 49th state -- was scooping up salmon within days of picking up his dipnet permit, according to a trooper dispatch. Troopers say he has now been issued two $310 citations, one for the alleged fishing license violation and another for illegally possessing a resident hunting license.
He's been summoned to appear in the Kenai Court on charges of illegally killing 48 dip-netted salmon. Troopers say Sakurada currently lives in Anchorage