Loses fishing privileges for six months
by Richard Simms
posted April 24, 2009
A commercial fisherman charged with multiple violations in Rhea County last month was found guilty in court today.
Bill Sligh and his helper, Adam Coulter, pled "Not Guilty." After hearing testimony however, Rhea County Judge Jimmy McKenzie found both men "Guilty."
Sligh was convicted of 10 counts of possessing over the limit of catfish greater than 34 inches and one count of setting commercial nets within 100 yards of the mouth of a creek or slough. Sligh was fined a total of $2,244 and his commercial fishing privileges were revoked for 6 months.
Coulter was found guilty of destruction of wildlife after officers observed him killing a striped bass taken from the nets. Coulter was fined $204 and also lost his commercial fishing privileges for 6 months.
Both men have 10 days to appeal the decision.
According to Letner, Sligh told the judge he was confused about how to properly measure fish, and which species the 34-inch size limit applied to.
Letner says that officers do have the discretion of confiscating equipment, including boats, in some cases such as this.
"I talked it over with my supervisor and it is pretty serious when you completely take away a man's livelihood from he and his family," said Letner. "We feel like the judge assessed a fair penalty in this case."
Letner said that Sligh does have one previous commercial fishing violation on his record from Ft. Loudon in 2006.
Officer Letner brought the most recent charges after he received a tip that someone had strung nets all throughout Spence Slough, just below Cottonport on the Rhea County side of the Tennessee River.
Officer Letner established a stakeout with the help of Officer Chris Combs. After five hours they said they observed, and videotaped as Sligh and Coulter started running the nets.
"It didn't matter how long it took, " said Letner. "I was going to sit there for two days if I had to."
After observing the men, Letner and Combs stopped them after they pulled their boat from the water. With the assistance of other officers, they discovered a total of 11 catfish over 34 inches in length.
By law commercial anglers, or sport anglers, are allowed to keep no more than one catfish per day more than 34 inches in length.
Officer Matt Majors said, "Our guys spend numerous hours watching and waiting. Sometimes we get em', sometimes not. These guys did a great job of mending all available resources together and maintaining concealment to protect our fishery ....which is tough to do sometimes."
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