A Southeast Alaska commercial harvester has been sentenced to jail, a $20,000 fine, and forfeiture of his commercial fishing boat after conviction of numerous commercial fishing violations.

The sentencing for 53-year-old Michael Duby, a former hunting and fishing guide, was handed down on Friday, May 15, by Juneau Superior Court Judge Larry Woolford, the Alaska Department of Law said on Tuesday, May 19.

Woolford sentenced Duby to serve four and a half years, with five and a half years of the 10-year sentence suspended, plus the fine and forfeiture of his boat.

Duby is the owner of Genesis Seafoods, a commercial fishing and processing firm in Juneau, Alaska.The sentencing came in the wake of a three-week trial that concluded on Jan. 15, with Duby found guilty by a jury of multiple violations in 2019 and 2020. The jury found Duby guilty of multiple wildlife and commercial fishing violations, including illegally selling personal-use fish, falsifying state harvest records, and reckless endangerment for selling shellfish untested for toxins to a Fairbanks restaurant.

Duby told the Juneau Independent in a January interview that his sport fishing rights had been taken away, but fishing was his passion and he was still allowed to commercial fish, so he felt it was a way he could easily follow the rules and not get himself in a complicated situation again.

During sentencing, Judge Woolford identified Duby as a "worst offender" and said he was a "danger" to the community as a repeat offender. The judge detailed Duby's prolific history of poaching, selling illegal fish and game, and fraudulent reporting practices carried out across multiple states. Woolford made clear in his sentencing comments that the sentence was meant to serve goals of community condemnation, reaffirmation of societal norms, and deterrence of Duby and others who commit similar crimes from such conduct in the future.