Salmon Smuggling Ring Cracked; Asian Firms, Individuals Indicted

Federal authorities cracked a salmon smuggling operation on Wednesday in which fishermen from Asia ensnared 1.5 million pounds of U.S. fish in gill nets and used a sophisticated series of front companies to resell the valuable salmon to Japan.

Authorities, attempting to protect U.S. salmon runs and the North Pacific salmon industry, said the investigation into the fish smuggling is continuing and that more indictments are anticipated.

Appearing with officials from the Customs Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Atty. Joseph Russoniello announced two smuggling and conspiracy indictments naming 17 individuals and corporations in Taipei, Hong Kong, Tokyo and the San Francisco area.

Russoniello noted that Alaskan salmon stocks are threatened by the Exxon oil spill in Prince William Sound and said the unregulated take by foreign fishermen could mean that “we would lose this very precious resource.”

“We’re dealing with millions of pounds of salmon which were taken . . . on the high seas by a number of Asian countries, primarily Taiwan and Korea,” said William Evans, assistant secretary of Commerce and administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Evans said “several similar investigations are nearing completion” and will result in additional indictments. U.S. diplomats also are trying to stop the illicit fish trade, he said.

“This kind of illegal activity eats very seriously into that market for American fishermen,” Evans added, noting that West Coast fishermen long have complained about foreign takes of salmon. The selling of salmon taken from Pacific coastal waters is regulated by treaty.

According to the indictments, foreign fishermen caught the salmon, often in gill nets designed to catch far less valuable squid. Fish brokerage houses used phony invoices to make it appear as if the fish had been caught by Japanese fishermen.

Shipping Procedure

With the help of companies in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan, the fish was shipped to U.S. ports at Oakland and Bellingham, Wash. Once in U.S. ports, the frozen fish was repackaged as a product of the United States and shipped back to Japan.

The treaty among the United States, Canada and Japan seeks to divide the catch and importation of salmon among the three countries equally. Evans said Taiwanese law forbids its fishermen from selling salmon in Japan, which is the world’s most lucrative salmon market.

The 2 1/2-year investigation resulted in the seizure of 500,000 pounds of salmon, which was distributed to charities in San Francisco and San Jose, and sold on the open market. The case involved catches as early as 1985.

Among the people charged Wednesday were Hsikwei Chen of Pleasant Island Ltd., a Taiwanese fish brokerage operation; Harry H.L. Chang, a Hong Kong fish broker, and Norihisa Komatsu, a fish broker in Tokyo.

People or companies in the United States who were indicted include Kenichi Haramoto of Fuji Express, a South San Francisco shipping company, and Westcon Trading of San Bruno, Calif., and Honolulu.

Times Researcher Norma Kaufman contributed to this story.