A licensed charter fishing captain out of Panama City will spend 30 days in jail and have to pay a 51 thousand dollar fine for killing dolphins.
31-year-old Zackery Brandon Barfield was sentenced for three counts of poisoning and shooting dolphins in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.
Barfield has been a licensed charter and commercial fishing captain in the Panama City area for his entire adult life.
From 2022-2023, he poisoned and shot bottlenose dolphins on multiple occasions after growing frustrated with dolphins eating red snapper from the lines of his charter fishing clients.
He began placing methomyl inside baitfish to poison the dolphins that surfaced near his boat.
Methomyl is a highly toxic pesticide that acts on the nervous system of humans, mammals, and other animals, and is restricted by the Environmental Protection Agency to control flies in non-residential settings.
While captaining fishing trips in December 2022 and the summer of 2023, Barfield saw dolphins eating snapper from his client’s fishing lines.
On both occasions, he used a 12-gauge shotgun to shoot the dolphins that surfaced near his vessel, killing one immediately.
On one trip he shot a dolphin while two elementary-aged children were on board, and another with more than a dozen fisherman on board.
Barfield’s prison sentence will be followed by a 1-year term of supervised release.
31-year-old Zackery Brandon Barfield was sentenced for three counts of poisoning and shooting dolphins in violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act.
Barfield has been a licensed charter and commercial fishing captain in the Panama City area for his entire adult life.
From 2022-2023, he poisoned and shot bottlenose dolphins on multiple occasions after growing frustrated with dolphins eating red snapper from the lines of his charter fishing clients.
He began placing methomyl inside baitfish to poison the dolphins that surfaced near his boat.
Methomyl is a highly toxic pesticide that acts on the nervous system of humans, mammals, and other animals, and is restricted by the Environmental Protection Agency to control flies in non-residential settings.
While captaining fishing trips in December 2022 and the summer of 2023, Barfield saw dolphins eating snapper from his client’s fishing lines.
On both occasions, he used a 12-gauge shotgun to shoot the dolphins that surfaced near his vessel, killing one immediately.
On one trip he shot a dolphin while two elementary-aged children were on board, and another with more than a dozen fisherman on board.
Barfield’s prison sentence will be followed by a 1-year term of supervised release.
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