A Montauk, N.Y., fisherman was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Thursday for his role in a conspiracy to harvest and sell thousands of pounds more fluke and black sea bass than limits allowed.
The man, Chris Winkler, 65, who helms a 45-foot trawler called the New Age, was convicted by a Long Island jury in October on federal charges of hauling too many fish from the sea. The jury also found him guilty of falsifying records and selling his illegal catch to partners at Gosman’s Dock, a waterfront mall and restaurant complex in Montauk, and to dealers at the Fulton Fish Market in the Bronx.
Mr. Winkler was unanimously convicted on the five counts he faced, which included criminal conspiracy, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced on Thursday by Judge Joan M. Azrack of the Eastern District of New York and will surrender in December.
“I consider this a serious crime,” said Judge Azrack, who called the trial “illuminating, educational and disturbing.” Mr. Winkler, she said, “undermined the integrity of the whole fisheries management program.”
Mr. Winkler sat in the courtroom in Central Islip’s glassy federal court complex flanked by his lawyers. Mr. Winkler, who wore a blazer and had his shoulder-length hair tucked in a ponytail, appeared serious and occasionally emotional. He was joined by a smattering of friends and fellow Montauk residents, some of whom wore flip-flops and flannel shirts.
A lawyer for Mr. Winkler, Richard W. Levitt, declined to comment.
The sentencing came roughly nine months after Mr. Winkler’s federal trial, which included testimony by dock workers and fishermen as well as officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which sets quotas for each state.
The trial exposed long-simmering tension between Long Island’s fishermen — many of whom believe the quotas are outdated and unfair — and the federal agency that regulates them.
The federal government has increasingly used criminal prosecution to enforce fishing regulations, and Mr. Winkler’s case was among several similar cases brought by the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division in the past decade. Two such cases, against other Long Island fishermen charged with overfishing fluke, ended in prison sentences.
Some 73 miles from the courthouse are the glistening waters of Montauk, a village at the easternmost tip of Long Island. The former fishing village is a playground for some of New York City’s wealthiest residents, slightly more remote than the glittering Hamptons towns. But the town retains a working port and a touch of its original rugged charm even as the area has gentrified.
Gosman’s Dock, which began as a chowder stand in 1943 and grew into a miniature empire, has been one of Long Island’s largest suppliers of fresh fish for decades.
Mr. Winkler was first charged in a 2021 indictment alongside Bryan Gosman and Asa Gosman, who are cousins, and a wholesale company they managed. The Gosmans pleaded guilty and later testified against Mr. Winkler, with one saying that he had occasionally served as a lookout to help Mr. Winkler evade law enforcement.
Mr. Winker’s case concerns fishing trips between 2014 and 2017 during which he harvested at least 200,000 pounds of fluke and 20,000 pounds of black sea bass beyond the limit, prosecutors said. Mr. Winkler then fudged records to conceal the excess catch, they said.
Prosecutors also accused Mr. Winkler of cutting lucrative deals with the Gosmans, including offloading his catch at their dock for a fee and selling it to them and two other dealers in the Bronx. Prosecutors said the over-quota fish was worth nearly $900,000 on the wholesale market.
During Mr. Winkler’s trial, prosecutors said that regulators were trying to “preserve fishery resources for fish today, tomorrow and for generations to come.”
Mr. Winkler’s lawyers argued that the case was built around outdated quotas. “There is nothing at all rational about this system,” Mr. Levitt said during the trial.
Mr. Winkler’s lawyers continued that argument in a memo to the court requesting leniency. Mr. Winkler, they said, is a lifelong seaman from a working-class background who “respected his craft, his crew and even the fish he netted.”
In letters submitted on Mr. Winkler’s behalf, 22 friends and family members described him as pillar of the community who had provided those around him with guidance — and sometimes, fish dinners — during tumultuous times.
On Thursday, Mr. Levitt said that the Gosmans — whom he referred to as “scions of a wealthy Montauk family” — and other witnesses had received sweetheart deals. “The government wants to throw the book at him,” Mr. Levitt said of Mr. Winkler.
Mr. Winkler, who leaned back in his chair with a furrowed brow for much of Thursday’s proceedings, acknowledged his crimes and said he felt deep remorse. But he added that the fluke stock had been robust.
“I’m deeply regretful that my choices and actions went against the rules of the very fishing industry that gave me everything,” he said.
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