Chaser,
I had a similar experience in Westport last summer. This was my first time out in a big mooching charter boat in the ocean.

If a fish got within range of the long handled net, it was brought abourd, dumped on deck and then thrown back if it was wild. And then there were they "partially clipped fish" that definately did not meet the definition of clipped per the regs, but were kept anyway with the explanation that it was a hatchery fish that's adipose fin just got partially clipped