Updated: 1 a day ago Published: November 8, 2024

federal prosecutors are recommending An Alaska fisherman will serve six months in prison, pay a $25,000 fine and be banned from commercial fishing for a year after lying about fishing catches and trying to kill an endangered sperm whale.

Dugan Paul Daniels pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor earlier this year, and prosecutors released their sentencing recommendation Tuesday.

According to court documents, Daniels became enraged in March 2020 when a whale began removing fish from his longline fishing gear and damaging the equipment.

This type of behavior has been seen for decades along the Alaska coast, but prosecutors say this is the first time in Alaska that a fisherman has attempted to kill a whale in retaliation, and it may be the first time nationwide.

(Previous report: Decades ago, sperm whales learned to attack fishermen’s black cod lines. Now, an Alaska man is accused of killing one.)

“Daniels’ behavior evidences a complete lack of respect for whales and the laws that protect them,” prosecutors wrote.

According to messages sent to his GPS unit, Daniels ordered a crew member to shoot the whale, attempted to ram it with his fishing boat, and then attempted to kill it by rolling up his fishing gear while the whale was trapped in it.

In one message, Daniels wrote that he “wished it had a cannon to blow the shit out of the water.”

After one of the recipients of his message warned Daniels that killing a whale was a federal crime, he responded, “the feds are closed and I don’t care.”

That was a reference to the COVID-19 emergency office closure in March 2020, at the time of the messages.

Federal officials do not know whether Daniels successfully killed the whale. No dead sperm whales were seen in Southeast Alaska at the time of the incident. Still, prosecutors say, the incident qualifies as “capture” of an endangered whale, in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

Prosecutors ask that, in addition to the fine and prison term, Daniels be sentenced to community service and supervised release for three years. If he resumes commercial fishing after his one-year ban, prosecutors ask that he be subject to additional monitoring.

The sentence has been referred to Magistrate Matthew McCrary Scoble for consideration.

Originally published by Alaska Lighthousean independent, nonpartisan news organization covering Alaska state government.