A popular northern Michigan fishery was charged with illegally selling and transporting Lake Trout.
Co-owner John Cross of Cross Fisheries in Charlevoix was sentenced to a year in prison on Tuesday.
You may have seen fish from Cross Fisheries on sale in your local grocery store.
But according to the US Justice Department, owner John Cross has been illegally buying and selling Lake Trout for years.
A press release says Cross bought over fifty thousand pounds of the fish that was harvested via trapnet.
But he reported that he got it legally.
Mark Ebener was a fisheries biologist for almost 40 years. He says what Cross did is common.
“I think what the feds are doing is they’re trying to send a big message that people need to stop illegal lake trout harvesting.”
Cross Fisheries was also charged with falsely reporting their whitefish harvest.
The arrest was made as part of a US Fish and Wildlife Undercover operation called ‘Fishing for Funds.’
Ebener says he expects more charges and arrests in the future.