Federal fishery regulators have been pressuring fishermen to cooperate with a yearlong investigation of the Gloucester Seafood Display Auction by threatening them with fines for violations of stringent fishing rules but suggesting penalties could be lessened if they provide information about the auction.

A number of commercial fishermen who land their catches at the auction said federal investigators have called them to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building at Blackburn Industrial Park to question them about catch limit and permit discrepancies.

NOAA raided the auction last December, seizing a truckload of documents. This fall, the agency began questioning fishermen. Fishermen and their advocates said the questions have focused on the 2004 fishing year.

Most fishermen are reluctant to speak on the record about the investigation, but it has raised tensions on the waterfront as the probe approaches its second year.

“Throughout the investigation, there was an undercurrent of fear on the part of fishermen as to how (fishing regulators) would react to their speaking out about the interviews they have been conducting,” said Mark Godfried, a retired tuna fisherman and a consultant for fishing businesses. “That’s an important part of this. These guys are living in fear of their income, their livelihoods.”

Andy Cohen, special agent in charge of NOAA Fisheries Enforcement in New England, confirmed that investigators have suggested cooperation could help mitigate punishments but said NOAA enforcement officers have no power to promise specific relief.

“We don’t have the legal authority to do that,” Cohen said Monday. “We do have the authority to tell our counsel general the (fisherman) made a mistake, or to tell them he’s exploiting a loophole. We can give our general counsel this information, but what they do with it, we can’t influence.”

Kevin Kiely, an attorney representing the auction and owner Lawrence Ciulla, declined to comment for this story.

‘On a fishing trip’

James Ansara of Essex, who fishes commercially for striped bass on a small scale to pay for the upkeep of and fuel for his boat, said he was called to Blackburn for an interview at the end of September.

“They’re definitely on a fishing trip, because if they wanted insider information, I wasn’t the guy to go to,” Ansara said.

Ansara said he was called in about a possible violation of landing limits because in the summer of 2004 he had brought in 354 pounds of stripers in two landings at the auction.

The catch was legal under the state permit he holds, Ansara said. However, he also holds a federal permit with a 75-pound limit for striped bass. Ansara said he was not aware that the law requires holders of a federal permit to fish under that permit instead of the state one.

Two men questioned him in a room at the NOAA building, he said.

“Very clearly, the auction was their target,” he said. “They were looking for whether someone was putting fish on my permit, or if I was putting fish on someone else’s permit.”

Four commercial fishermen who land catches at the auction described similar interviews with NOAA officials to the Times but asked that they not be named because they feared retribution from regulators. Two others deeply involved with the fishing industry said they have spoken with a number of fishermen who have had similar experiences.

Stephen Ouellette, a lawyer who represents fishermen and fishing interests, said he is aware investigators are putting pressure on fishermen to cooperate by questioning them about their own possible violations of fishing regulations.

“It’s a legitimate tactic for law enforcement,” Ouellette said. “I can’t say I like it, but it’s what they’re doing.”

He said a number of the cases have focused on an authorization letter for yellowtail flounder that fishermen targeting that species were required to carry with them until recently. The letter exempted them from a 250-pound landing limit on yellowtail flounder.

Ouellette said “most of these guys were way under the 250 pounds” but were targeted because they didn’t have the letter with them.

The minimum fine for a single violation is $5,000, he said.

Godfried said the fines are excessive and can put a vessel out of business in the current regulatory climate.

“The amount of the fines being suggested are more than punitive,” he said. “They are jeopardizing well-intended fishermen’s right to exist. The amount of money NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Service) is trying to fine people for paperwork errors or mistakes in how they permit their boats — it’s unconscionable.”

The National Marine Fisheries Service is an arm of NOAA.

Godfried, Ouellette and Donald King, a former Gloucester fisherman and current advocate for local fishermen, said the regulations are so tangled and change so frequently it is easy for fishermen to violate them inadvertently.

Several people associated with the fishing industry, as well as the commercial fishermen, have said 60 skippers have been questioned about their landings, and many reported they felt pressured by investigators.

“The agents have said they randomly pulled 60 boats,” said Ansara, who said he heard the figure while being interviewed at the Blackburn building.

Cohen said 17 notices of potential violations have been mailed to fishermen, meaning investigators believe a violation occurred and want to speak with the fishermen. At least 20 more notices will be issued “in the near future,” Cohen said.

NOAA officials seized 150 boxes of documents and computer records from the auction Dec. 7 with an administrative warrant from U.S. District Court in Boston. Administrative warrants deal with violations of regulations — in this case those established by the federal Magnuson-Stevens fishery law — as opposed to criminal offenses.

The auction has not been charged with any violations, and the federal court affidavit laying out NOAA’s reasons for wanting a search remains sealed.

New Bedford case

NOAA enforcement officials have said their investigation of the Gloucester auction is unrelated to the one that led to charges against a New Bedford fish wholesaler Sept. 26.

Aristides “Steve” Couto, 57, of New Bedford, was charged in federal court in Boston with concealing cash purchases of fish and buying fish caught over legal limits.

Authorities said Couto offered to pay cash to fishing boat captains for part of their catch in return for prices below the prevailing daily price. NOAA investigators said Couto, owner of Steve’s Fillets in the South Terminal area of New Bedford’s waterfront, lied on reports to the agency by understating the amount of fish he purchased.

Over the course of four years, Couto is suspected of making about $774,000 in cash purchases that he concealed from NOAA. He also hid his cash transactions from the U.S. Department of the Treasury by withdrawing cash in amounts just under $10,000, the threshold at which banks must notify the Treasury, according to authorities.

Investigators believe Couto enticed fishing boat captains to sell their fish to him by offering to pay for part of their catch in cash beginning in 2002. The cash portion of Couto’s fish purchases ranged from $2,000 to $10,000 per trip, NOAA said.

If convicted, he could face up to five years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

Fines and penalties have been levied against the auction in the past, though fishermen told the Times it is run as a clean business.

In September 2003, the auction agreed to pay $80,000 and received a 15-day permit sanction after NOAA enforcement charged it with 24 counts of not properly documenting sales, buying illegal fish and other infractions.

The auction admitted to 14 counts of keeping false or inaccurate dealer records and nine counts of possessing or attempting to sell illegally caught cod. The auction, under the sanction, was forced to shut down from Dec. 23 to 27, 2003. The incidents happened on several occasions between July and August 2000.

Investigators said the auction bought more than 20,000 pounds of cod from the Gloria Jean between July 25 and Aug. 11, 2000.

Auction employees then attributed more than 16,000 pounds of the Gloria Jean’s catch to other boats in dealer reports in order to hide the amount over the trip limit, according to the charges. The auction reported purchasing more than 1,605 pounds of cod from the fishing vessel Just Temporary, a boat that did not exist.

While some of that fish was actually landed by the Gloria Jean, it is unclear which vessels landed some of the fish the auction attributed to the Just Temporary in September 2000.

Former auction employee Robert S. Lezynski reached a separate settlement with NOAA in which he admitted to attributing sales to the nonexistent boat and four other charges. He is not allowed to work for the dealer or a fishing boat with federal permits for three years and is barred from working at the auction for 10 years, according to his agreement.

Another penalty also barred auction owner Ciulla from working at the auction or being paid during a 30-day period the following May. Ciulla did not admit to personal involvement in the violations in the settlement but acknowledged he was working as a supervisor at the auction at the time.