A Maine lobsterman with a long record of violations is once again under fire, this time for alleged crimes in federal waters off the coast of New Hampshire.
On April 23, New Hampshire Fish and Game conservation officers boarded the lobster boat For the Win, operated by 40-year-old Rodney Genthner of Friendship, Maine. According to the agency, Genthner had relocated his fishing operations from midcoast Maine to Portsmouth following “recent convictions and suspensions” in his home state.
The boarding, which occurred around 4 a.m., was the result of a month-long surveillance operation. Officers allege Genthner was fishing without proper licensing and required vessel equipment for federal waters. The charged span both state and federal violations and include:
- Possession of V-notched female lobsters—protected breeding females marked for conservation
- Possession of undersized lobsters
- Unlawful dumping of fish in state harbors
- Possession of Atlantic wolffish, a species protected under state and federal law
- Failure to operate a vessel monitoring system, mandatory for federally permitted vessels fishing offshore
The enforcement effort was a joint operation involving the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, Maine Marine Patrol, and the New Castle Police Department.
This is not Genthner’s first run-in with marine authorities. In May 2023, the Maine Department of Marine Resources handed down a six-year license suspension after Marine Patrol Officer Brandon Sperling’s investigation revealed Genthner was in possession of traps belonging to two other lobstermen. The suspension length was based on a pattern of prior lobster-related violations.
New Hampshire conservation officers emphasized their dual role as state officers and deputized federal agents with NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service. “Species unlawfully removed from the ecosystem will not have the opportunity to be part of sustainable, healthy, and renewable populations of resources,” the agency stated in a press release.
