FWC Division of Law Enforcement Weekly Report June 28-July 4, 2013

FWC Division of Law Enforcement

Weekly Report

June 28-July 4, 2013

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.

NORTHWEST REGION

BAY COUNTY

Officer Warren Walsingham was working on the Bay County Pier when he observed an individual sell a king mackerel to another person. When he was done fishing for the day, the individual then filleted another king mackerel on one of the pier tables. A sign was posted on the table that states that on the pier it is illegal to fillet fish with established size limits. Officer Walsingham made contact with the individual, who said that he saw the signs and that he did not have a license to sell fish. He was issued citations for no saltwater retail license and failure to land fish (king mackerel) in whole condition.

Investigator Tony Lee, Officer Steve Wicker, and Lt. Dennis Welsh were on water patrol in the Grand Lagoon area and boarded a charter fishing vessel to conduct a fisheries inspection after it returned from a day of fishing. Numerous fish were displayed from the vessel as it docked. There were 52 patrons on the vessel allowing possession of 104 snapper. While conducting the inspection, the officers located an additional 33 red snapper some of which were hidden in various containers including the bottom of a garbage can. The captain of the vessel was issued a citation for possession of over the daily bag limit of red snapper.

Bay County officers responded to a parasailing accident that occurred on Panama City Beach. A parasail became disconnected from the vessel that was towing it during high winds causing the two occupants to sail into and over a building, strike power lines, and land in a parking lot after striking several parked vehicles. Both of the occupants were severely injured and transported to a local hospital. Investigator Drew Nelson is conducting the accident investigation.

GULF COUNTY

Officer Scott Hoffman received information regarding an individual who was seen placing several tripletail in a cooler in the back of a truck at the Indian Pass boat ramp. When Officer Hoffman arrived, the complainant advised him of the location of the truck and cooler. A second witness advised that they had also seen the subject place several tripletail in a cooler. Lt. Raz Castaneda arrived at the landing in plain clothes to assist with surveillance. Lieutenant Castaneda later observed the subject load a vessel on his trailer while driving the truck that contained the cooler of fish. A fisheries inspection was conducted. There were two live tripletail in the live well. It was determined the vessel operator had additional tripletail in a cooler in the back of his truck. The cooler contained four tripletail that were caught earlier in the day. The individual was issued a citation for taking over the daily bag limit of tripletail.

FRANKLIN COUNTY

Officers John Allen, Carmon Brownell, Jason Lipford and Lt. Charlie Wood recently concluded a five-day oyster detail in Apalachicola Bay. During the detail, 63 vessels were boarded and 159 harvesters were inspected. The detail yielded multiple violations of resource and boating safety laws. Four uniform boating citations were issued for boating safety and registration violations and two resource citations were issued for no saltwater products license and no Apalachicola Bay oyster harvest permit. Sixty-six boating safety warnings were issued as well as 26 warnings for resource violations.

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