Crime & Courts

Diver gets jail, fine for harvesting sea cucumbers in Alaska research area

A Southeast Alaska commercial fisherman convicted of harvesting in a state research area has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined more than $35,000.

Alaska State Troopers say 45-year-old Jonathan McGraw Jr. of Naukati Bay on Prince of Wales Island pleaded guilty last week to fishing in closed waters of Whale Pass and providing false information on a fish ticket. Both are misdemeanors.

Wildlife troopers determined that McGraw in late 2017 and early 2018 harvested sea cucumbers in the research area where commercial diving is never permitted.

He was fined $35,228. The fine matched the value of the sea cucumbers caught on seven occasions and totaling 7,506 pounds.

McGraw will lose his commercial fishing privileges and be on probation for one year.

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