Hatteras-based Citation disqualified in Big Rock; local captains criticize decision

By IRENE NOLAN

By IRENE NOLAN

The drama that has played out on fishing boards and social networking sites across the country for the past three days ended this evening when the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament Board of Directors disqualified the Hatteras-based boat that brought a record 883-pound fish to the dock on June 14, the tournament’s first day.

The Citation lost about $1.2 million in prize money because the board determined that a mate on the boat broke tournament rules because he did not get a $15 North Carolina recreation fishing license until after the marlin, the largest in the tournament’s 52-year history, was boated.

In a media release, the board said, “After interviewing members of the crew of the fishing vessel Citation, review of the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament rules, consulting the division of Marine Fisheries as well as the North Carolina Attorney General’s office, it is apparent that there has been a substantial violation of tournament rules.

“The Board of Directors has unanimously determined that they have no choice but to disqualify the 883-pound blue marlin caught on June 14, 2010,” the release said. “The rule violation did not involve ‘dishonesty’ or ‘cheating’ on the part of the owners or angler of the Citation.

Instead, the statement said that the violation involved the mate on Citation not having a recreational fishing license.

“This license is required by North Carolina law,” the board said. “It is required by the tournament as written in our rules. Participants and crew were reminded of the license requirement at the captains’ meeting prior to the tournament.”

According to the board, the mate, who has been identified in media reports as Peter Martin Wann, 22, of Alexandria, Va., “engaged in fishing activities without a valid license.”

According to the board, the record blue marlin was boated at 3:16 p.m., and the mate did not obtain a license until 5:51 p.m., while the boat was heading to the weigh station in Morehead City, N.C.

“This is an unfortunate situation for the crew of Citation, as well as the tournament itself,” the directors said. “For the integrity of the tournament, Big Rock has no choice but to enforce the rules and disqualify the fish.”

The mate was fined on Sunday by the state Division of Marine Fisheries after a discrepancy in his fishing license was uncovered in lie detector tests required of some people on the winning boat in the tournament, which had a total purse of $1.6 million in prize money.

The fine was $35 plus $125 in court costs.

But the owners of the boat, the captain Eric Holmes, and the angler Andy Thomasson have lost about $912,000 for the biggest blue marlin and a bonus prize of about $319,000.  The mate also usually shares in the prize money.

Because of this disqualification, The Big Rock Board of Directors declared Carnivore the tournament winner with its 528.3 pound blue marlin, caught by angler John Parks.  The boat won $999,543.  Second place then went to Wet-N-Wild with a 460-pound fish.  That boat won $275,322.

Several Hatteras captains who fished the tournament and are involved with writing and enforcing rules in other tournaments were unhappy with the decision.

“I am in total disagreement,” said Rom Whitaker, captain of the Release, which also fished the tournament and won a $7,000 prize for winning the daily division in the marlin release category.

“It is just terrible,” said Whitaker, who sits on the rules committee of the Hatteras Village Offshore Open and conducts captains’ meetings for that group. “It is absolutely ridiculous that they wrote that boy a ticket.”

Most observers say the fish was landed in federal waters, where Whitaker said the state has no jurisdiction.

“He caught the fish legally,” he said.

Whitaker noted that North Carolina requires that any fish landed in federal or state waters be brought to the dock by an angler and boat with the proper recreational fishing license.

When the mate landed the fish at the dock, Whitaker said, he had a valid license, no matter when it was acquired.

In the Hatteras village tournament, he noted, the fish would not have been disqualified “even if the mate had gotten his license two minutes before he got to the dock.”

Jay Kavanagh, captain of Bite Me who fished the Big Rock for the first time this year, agrees with Whitaker.

“The Big Rock has always been about as few rules as possible,” Kavanagh said.  “It’s all about putting the biggest fish on the dock.”

Kavanagh said he has studied the Big Rock rules, and he says he thinks they are “ambiguous” on the question of the state fishing license. But he assumes that since the requirement for the state license was mentioned at the captains’ committee, the directors felt obligated to enforce it.

Kavanagh helped write the rules and serves on the rules committee of the Hatteras Grand Slam Tournament.

“I do not consider this a violation of the rules,” he said.  He says the captain, the angler, the boat, and the mate “met the letter of the law” and that the Big Rock rules are” poorly written.”

“They just made a bad decision,” he said.

For the past three days on the Big Rock Facebook page, folks have weighed in on both sides of the issue – from the rules are the rules to the view that Kavanagh and Whitaker share that the mate had his license when he reached the dock and that should be that.

Speculation has been feverish over the past few days with many who weighed in on the boards saying the violation had to be about more than the lack of a $15 fishing license.

Turns out it was not.

For more information on the Big Rock and other winners, go to www.thebigrock.com.