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By TERRY TOMALIN, Times Outdoors EditorA tip leads agents to a large stash of shark fins and undersized grouper.
ST. PETERSBURG - The tip came in Monday.
A confidential informant told Tom Chase, an officer with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Division of Law Enforcement, a longline boat would be docking with a load of undersized grouper.
Chase and officers Tim Cussack and Anthony Cacciurri spent the next two days staking out the docks behind a seafood processing house.
At 11 p.m. Wednesday, the fishing boat MGB, captained by Ly Van Nguyen, 44, of 230 Willow Wick Ave. in Temple Terrace, pulled into Snake Creek next to Port St. Petersburg and docked at Bama Seafood Products at 756 28th St. S.
"When we first went aboard I had to look through three coolers before I actually found a legal fish," Chase said. "The rest were all short."
According to Capt. Daryl Amerson of the FWC's Division of Law Enforcement, it wasn't until Thursday morning, when Lt. Roger Young arrived to assist the officers, that the extent of the catch was revealed: 262 undersized red grouper among the more than 4,000 pounds of fish.
"We started counting, and I just couldn't believe it," Chase said. "I never would have expected to find so many undersized fish."
In addition to the undersized red grouper, officers also found several "short" gag grouper.
"I haven't seen anything like this in 15 or 20 years," Amerson said. "These officers took a tidbit of information and turned it into a major case."
According to federal commercial fishing regulations, red grouper must be at least 20 inches long and gag grouper must be 24 inches long to be kept. Federal recreational fishing regulations call for red grouper to be the same size - 20 inches - but 22-inch gag grouper may be kept.
After determining the extent of the illegal catch, state officers contacted their counterparts with the National Marine Fisheries Service in St. Petersburg.
"I would have to say that is a significant violation," said Dave McKinny, who works with the NMFS Division of Law Enforcement. "Each count could be punishable by a monetary fine of up to $250,000."
Amerson said that in addition to the undersized grouper, state officers found 63 shark fins without the required carcasses.
The practice of shark "finning," the removal of a sharks fins for sharkfin soup, is illegal but occasionally is encountered by officers. In the summer of 1989, recreational fishermen were outraged after a tiger shark that had apparently been finned and released was caught during a shark tournament in Destin.
Officers also found 13 cobia (seven over the limit, with two undersized) and several undersized amberjack. The boat's hold also contained American red snapper, but the operator did not have the required federal permits or endorsements, Amerson said.
A total tally of the catch: 3,707 pounds of red grouper, 75 pounds of black grouper, 380 pounds of cobia, 45 pounds of shark, 35 pounds of amberjack and 27 pounds of porgy.
Officers sold the fish and received $13,000 that went into a fine and forfeiture fund.
Amerson said Nguyen, the boat's captain, was charged with failure to land reef fish intact, possession of shark fins without carcass and harvest and landing of undersized grouper, all federal offenses.
Nguyen was issued a notice to appear in federal court and released.
"We are still working on the state violations," Amerson said. Attempts to contact representatives of Bama Seafood were unsuccessful.
Dennis O'Hern, a spokesman for the recreational Fishing Rights Alliance, applauded the officers' efforts.
"It is sad, but I am not surprised," O'Hern said. "We've always suspected this kind of thing happens more than you hear about."