NOAA cracks down on illegal charter boat operations

NOAA Fisheries service has been cracking down on illegal charter boat trips in the Gulf of Mexico and 15 charter boat operations are now facing fines for various violations. After receiving multiple complaints about allegedly illegal charter boat trips undercutting legal businesses, undercover agents from Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas chartered trips on vessels across the Gulf of Mexico and documented numerous violations for operating without federal charter boat moratorium permits. Investigators also discovered several other federal fisheries violations, including undersize fish, harvesting fish during a closed season, filleting fish at sea, concealing fish from enforcement, and failure to use venting tools, dehookers and circle hooks to fish for reef fish. There has been an increase in unpermitted charter boat activity since 2003 when the federal government placed a moratorium on charter boat permits to help protect certain fish species including red snapper. Since this moratorium, the only way to obtain a permit is to purchase one from an existing holder, which has raised the value of the permits to between $8,000 and $10,000 dollars.