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Lure Of Lobsters Proves Costly To Poachers At Biscayne National Park

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By NPT Staff - April 25th, 2016

Lobsters are tasty, and can bring a decent profit, but for some poachers at Biscayne National Park in Florida the lure of those crustaceans came with a high price: forfeiture of their 43-foot boat.

The defendants ran afoul of the law by, in part, taking lobsters from park waters out of season and separating the tails from the bodies before reaching shore.

According to a park release, last May 9 Biscayne National Park and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers conducted a safety and marine fisheries inspection on the commercial fishing vessel El Donny. 

During the inspection officers observed a lobster shell inside a crab trap, although the boat owner indicated that no lobsters were on the vessel. While inspecting the engine room, an officer noticed a white plastic bag hidden behind some engine equipment. This bag, along with four others that were discovered, included a total of 87 wrung lobster tails, 66 of which were undersized. All the lobsters were collected during a closed season and were required to remain in whole condition (separating tails from bodies is prohibited before they are ashore).

The park release said the "defendants have an extensive criminal history with multiple prior marine fisheries violations." They were charged with possession of spiny lobster out of season, possession of wrung spiny lobster tails, possession of undersized spiny lobster, interference with an officer, and improper stone crab trap transfer.

Earlier this month the defendants pled guilty to all counts charged against them and accepted the State's plea of adjudication of guilt to each count, the park release said.

The plea agreement included; permanent forfeiture of 43’ commercial fishing vessel, three years of reporting probation with a special condition that defendants may not register, operate or captain any commercial vessel during the probation, permanent forfeiture of saltwater products license including all endorsements and permanent forfeiture of all fishing/commercial licenses associated with the vessel EL Donny.

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