Department of Commerce
NOAA Fisheries
Office for Law Enforcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2, 2003

CANADIAN BUSINESSMAN ADMITS TO CONSPIRACY TO ILLEGALLY IMPORT $2.8 MILLION OF UNDERSIZED LOBSTER INTO THE UNITED STATES

A Canadian citizen has pleaded guilty in connection with a conspiracy that exported more than $2.8 million worth of undersized spiny lobster from Nicaragua into the United States over a five year period, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.

Peter Silver admitted by his plea that over a five-year period he and others illegally shipped approximately 190,000 pounds of frozen spiny lobster into the United States contrary to the laws of Nicaragua, which set a minimum legal size of 5 ounces. The violation of the Nicaraguan law constitutes a violation of the federal Lacey Act. The Lacey Act is a law which prohibits the import, export, transport, sale, receipt or purchase of any fish or wildlife possessed, transported, or sold in violation of any State or foreign law.

Silver, who was arrested in Miami, Fla. on Dec. 24, 2002, faces up to five years imprisonment, as well as a term of supervised release. In addition, the conspiracy conviction carries a possible fine of up to the greater of $250,000 or twice the gain or loss arising from the illegal activity.

"Caribbean spiny lobster is in significant decline in many regions as a result of illegal harvests such as these," stated Special Agent in Charge Dick Livingston, NOAA Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement - Southeast Division. "The guilty pleas received in this case demonstrate that we will aggressively investigate and punish those that blatantly abuse our fisheries laws."

"The two-year investigation by NOAA Fisheries special agents would not have been successful without the cooperative efforts of the Nicaraguan government and the U.S. Attorney's Office," Livingston added.

According to the indictment file in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and a detailed statement of facts provided to the Court, between March 1996 and June 2001, Silver and others involved with the conspiracy were involved in as many as 86 shipments of frozen lobster tail, harvested in Nicaragua and destined for a wholesaler in Virginia and other companies in the United States.

Since 1988, Nicaragua has placed minimum limits on the size of spiny lobster in order to protect that segment of their domestic fisheries from over-fishing and from collapse of the species by loss of the reproductive stock. Below a certain size, lobster are not mature enough to reproduce and repopulate the species. The spiny lobster is a significant source of employment and revenue in Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan lobster population is also the parent population for spiny lobster stocks elsewhere in the Caribbean, including some Florida waters.

Pedro Alejandro Pereira, a co-conspirator who also has pled guilty, has admitted that the operation implemented a scheme to mis-label and ship undersized lobster to the United States using a coding system not recognized in the ordinary practice of the lobster industry. By labeling boxes of frozen lobster as "XX," "XXX," and "XXXX," the conspirators sought to conceal that those boxes held two, three and four ounce tails which are all below the legal limit for processing and trade. Twice in 1997 and in 1998, the operation in Nicaragua was fined by Inspectors from the Nicaraguan Fisheries Department for processing and attempting to export to the United States spiny lobster tails that did not meet the five ounce requirement. The government also established that in correspondence in 1997, Pereira acknowledged his awareness of the size limitation in Nicaraguan law, but assured Silver that a way to bring in the small tails would be found and it should not be cause for worry.

The Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. To learn more about NOAA, please visit http://www.noaa.gov.