An Alaska commercial fisherman with a decades-long history of wildlife violations has been convicted on multiple charges tied to his fishing business.
Michael Patrick Duby, 51, a Juneau resident and former hunting and fishing guide, was found guilty by a jury on Jan. 15 of eight recent offenses related to commercial fishing violations that occurred in 2019 and 2020. The convictions stem from Duby’s operation of Genesis Seafoods and include misdemeanors for selling personal-use fish and taking fish out of season, as well as multiple felonies for falsifying state harvest records used to track commercial landings.
Speaking with the Juneau Independent, Duby said he turned to commercial fishing after losing his sport fishing and hunting privileges for earlier crimes. “My sport fishing rights were taken away, and I was never able to do that, but fishing is my passion, and I was still allowed to commercial fish,” Duby said. “I felt that as long as I’d be very careful, I wouldn’t get myself into this situation again. Obviously, that didn’t happen.”
According to the Independent, Duby’s record of violations spans more than 20 years and includes unlawful hunting, illegal bear baiting, falsifying records, and repeated fishing violations in both Alaska and Montana. In 2012, following a two-year investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Duby was convicted of a felony for selling and selling black-billed magpies protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, resulting in prison time, probation, and fines.
At the time, Alaska prosecutors also convicted Duby on multiple state-level wildlife crimes and a felony for falsifying an application for the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, leading to one of the harshest fish and game sentences in state history, according to KTOO News.
Duby was also convicted in the recent case of harvesting clams commercially without a permit and reckless endangerment for selling clams that had not been properly tested. His wife, Esther Duby, who had been charged as an accomplice, was acquitted. Duby is scheduled to be sentenced in May.
