From Ted Thomas: On One Processor That Will Get That 20% Whitefish Share

From Ted Thomas regarding local people of note

Some things you just have to share. This guy was sued for racketeering by his mother!Now he is 20 million dollars richer because the government gave him 20 % of the whitefish catch quota, as an outgoing gesture I am sure. it is a fire sale on fish. Meanwhile the smaller boats have received a portion of the fisheries so small they cannot survive on it and will be compelled to sell it to the larger operations. What happened in the bearing sea fisheries recently was that 300 out of 400 some fishermen lost their only employment permanently. It seams to me that when you own the rights to fish the boats the processing and the market that you might have a monopoly. Where are the Sherman anti trust laws when you need them?

Ted Thomas

www.times.org©2007 Cascadia Times

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A Timeline

Frank Dulcich’s troubles go back to 1986 when his two siblings noticed large amounts of money were missing from the family seafood business, Dulcich Inc., also known as Pacific Seafood. They hire a lawyer to investigate.

1993: Dulcich Inc.’s Board of Directors determine Frank Dulcich took an unauthorized $288,000 from the company.claiming Frank took much more from the company than the Board said, his siblings sue Frank for securities fraud, racketeering and theft.

1994: Frank settles siblings’ lawsuit, agrees to buy all shares in Dulcich Inc. 1995: Hayes Oyster sues Frank and his company for trying to destroy its business and steal its assets.

1996: Jury finds Dulcich illegally took valuable oyster shells from Hayes Oyster, orders Dulcich Inc. to pay $46,400. In 2006 Dulcich Inc. agrees to pay $150,000 more.

1998: Frank advises his managers to “use and abuse” rival companies, and “kill our allies last,” according to court evidence. A Dulcich Inc. subsidiary begins to steal from fishermen and the state of Oregon.

1999: The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality finds a Pacific Seafood plant has no water pollution permit and is dumping tons of fish waste into the Skipanon River on the northern Oregon Coast.

2000: Frank becomes a member of the “Bush Pioneers,” a group of donors who each round up $100,000 for George W. Bush. 60 Oregon State troopers descend on 2 Dulcich Inc. facilities with search warrants to collect evidence of stealing from fishermen.

2002: A neighbor of the polluting plant on the Skipanon, sick of the stink and pink slime, files a federal Clean Water Act lawsuit against Dulcich Inc. OSPIRG is also a plaintiff in the case. A Pacific Seafood subsidiary pleads no contest to first degree theft, a class C felony, for stealing from fishermen and the state of Oregon. It is ordered to pay $800,000 by the court and to serve five years probation. During the probation, the company is barred from retaliating against fishermen who testified. Frank’s company and affiliates pay more than $1,000,000 to the Gallatin Group to lobby Congress from 2002-2007.

2003: Frank’s Mom, Melba, sues her son for failing to pay her $150,000 per year as he promised in 1994 in exchange for her shares in the company. Balance owed to Mom in 2003: $1,8 million. In approving a bill sponsored by Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith, Congress agrees that taxpayers must pay $950,000 to resolve Pacific Seafood’s pollution problems in the Skipanon River.

2004: Frank settles his Mom’s lawsuit.

2005: Over the years, Dulcich and his family and associates have donated $45,000 to Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith.

Smith helps Dulcich once again by sponsoring a bill designed to give Dulcich Inc. part ownership of the Pacific whiting fishery.

The bill fails.

Rod Moore, an ally of Dulcich, takes a seat on the Pacific Fishery Management Council, giving Dulcich inside access to federal fishery policy.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski nominated Moore.

Federal Judge Ancer Haggerty orders Pacific Surimi, a Dulcich subsidiary, to close its surimi line until it gets a pollution permit and stops its illegal pollution.

Pacific Seafood is held liable for violating the Clean Water Act 1,384 times since 1999.

2007: President Bush signs a reauthorized Magnuson-Stevens Act providing fish processors potential ownership of catch shares in the West Coast groundfish fishery.

Fishermen go on strike claiming that Dulcich Inc. suddenly slashed fish prices just before a huge harvest.

Judge Haggerty approves a consent order requiring Dulcich’s company to spend $200,000 over 10 years to clean up the Skipanon River.

The National Marine Fisheries Service closes whiting fishery after a Pacific Seafood plant in Westport, Wash., is caught destroying imperiled widow groundfish by passing them through a meat grinder. The five years probation following the 2002 felony theft conviction finally expires on August 7.