The US Coast Guard and Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission captured an illegal catch, including 64 mangrove snappers and one undersized barracuda aboard the 22-foot recreational boat near Blackwater Sound, on Monday, June 9.
A US Coast Guard crew located the boat in Blackwater Sound. While boarding, the boarding team discovered 64 mangrove snappers and one undersized barracuda. The boat was escorted to Gilberts Marina where a dockside boarding was carried out with FWC and the catch was seized.
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The violations against the operator and passenger of the boat included two tickets for not having a fishing license and improper registration decal, four misdemeanors for fishing undersized snappers and being 45 fish over the bag limit and two warnings for fishing undersized barracudas.
Maj. Alfredo Escanio, FWC law enforcement regional commander, stated:
Our partnership with the US Coast Guard is an invaluable tool promoting public safety as well as natural resource protection. Working together, we can ensure the availability of Florida’s natural resources for future generations.
The US Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had also jointly seized 11 shark fins and dismembered sharks aboard the 40-foot commercial fishing vessel ‘Miss Shell’, near South Sound Creek, during June. US law prohibits the act of shark finning, a process of removing shark fins at sea and discarding the rest of the shark, since 2000.
