FWC Law Enforcement Report

May 16, 2015

The Florida FWC Division of Law Enforcement reported the following activity during the weekly period ending May 14 in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

ESCAMBIA COUNTY

Officer Jones was conducting fishery inspections near Fort Pickens at the Pensacola Pass.  He contacted three fishermen on a vessel who were in possession of a cobia that measured 31 inches in length.  The minimum length by Florida law is 33 inches measured to the fork of the tail.  The fishermen said that they were sure it was long enough, but they had no measuring device.  Officer Jones issued a notice to appear to the operator of the boat who accepted responsibility for the illegal catch.

SANTA ROSA COUNTY

Officer Hutchinson and Investigator Hughes were patrolling the Escambia River Wildlife Management Area when they observed a vessel with two occupants pull up to a bush hook tied to a tree limb on the edge of the river.  They observed the passenger in the front of the vessel pull the bush hook out of the water and hand it to the vessel operator.  The operator then baited the line and placed it back into the water.  The officers made contact with the occupants and discovered that the operator did not have a valid freshwater fishing license.  After further investigation, they discovered the bush hook was not properly tagged and it was baited with parts of a game fish.  The subjects were issued citations for using game fish for bait on a bush hook and fishing without a license.

The Fincat crew was on patrol over the weekend in both state and federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico.  A state citation was issued to a fisherman returning from an overnight fishing trip early in the morning.  When asked if he had any fish, he stated he had one “big eye.” He quickly offered to show the officers the fish from afar.  A closer inspection revealed a 33‑inch red snapper.  Later that day, while waiting near a dive boat, a diver surfaced unaware of the officers’ presence.  The officers overheard the diver stating he had two amberjack, one of which he thought was too small.  The fish was five inches too short. The diver was issued a citation for undersized greater amberjack.  While initiating another vessel inspection in federal waters, one of the fishermen stated to the officers that they had a king mackerel and a few other fish.  During the inspection, Officer Land located a bag of 14 gray triggerfish fillets, four red snapper fillets, two gag grouper fillets and two pompano fillets.  Federal citations were issued to all four subjects for multiple violations.

This report represents some events the FWC handled over the past week;however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement. Information provided by FWC.

Comments

5 Responses to “FWC Law Enforcement Report”

  1. jeeperman on May 18th, 2015 2:22 pm

    Regulations are printed for a reason.
    Reason being….so they can be enforced.

    No measuring device…….LOL the lack of a $10 stick-on measuring tape on the gunwhle is going to be a whole lot more expensive than $10.

  2. hi on May 17th, 2015 7:55 am

    All the fish were donated to Loaves and Fishes in Pensacola.

  3. Pop on May 16th, 2015 9:59 pm

    How do you suppose to have bush hooks tagged????

  4. me on May 16th, 2015 9:30 pm

    What happens to all those fish caught illegally?

  5. Sage 2 on May 16th, 2015 3:45 pm

    These FWC officers have just been too busy. They need to take a few days annual leave and rest up from all that measuring and such! :-) ))

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News