OT citation for catching a Goliath grouper

[db_triggerfish]

My father in-law was given citation for catching and not releasing a Goliath grouper about 10 pounds. I did a Google and it looks he can be fined up to $5000.00. He is not much of a fisherman he was on a friend’s boat and he did not recognize it as a protected fish. The fish was released alive as per the citation. My question is should he hired an attorney for this type of violation, and if you have any experience what should he expect. You can PM if you wish. THANKS,

 

[ek9vboi]

He is in DEEP trouble. I would advise you/him to talk to a lawyer.

Releasing it while it was alive might help, but still he is in deep. People who fish on the pier and have been caught bring up and keeping illegal sized snappers get fine around 500 bucks easily, some of them end up going to jail I believe. They are strict about things like this.

 

[loyalrogue]

Did you check the written citation out?
Did it say a court appearance was required, or was there a fine and instructions written on the back like on a traffic citation?

 

[Young Frankenstein]

This citations are ridiculus .Go after the big poluters.

 

[carlosngloria]

Well if it was his friends boat and his friend was on the boat at the time the friend should have gotten the citation, due to the fact that he is responsible for everyone on his boat.

Also when groupers get big they have worms so if you ever catch a big grouper its better to release it. Esp dont keep anything you dont know what it is.

 

[db_triggerfish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12022641#post12022641 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by loyalrogue
Did you check the written citation out?
Did it say a court appearance was required, or was there a fine and instructions written on the back like on a traffic citation?

It does say court appearance required. It also says fine to be determined.

 

[Von_Rahvin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12023003#post12023003 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 0 Agios
This citations are ridiculus .Go after the big poluters.

no not knowing what you catch fishing is just plain stupid. If you don't know what it is, quite simply you shouldn't keep it.

he's lucky he didn't go to jail. He SHOULD have, and i do hope the law prosecutes to the fullest extent. .

Do i want to kill a Jewfish? Heck yeah.
Can i ? : no.

 

[Rogger Castells]

IMO, the safest and cheapest option is to hire a lawyer, I stopped trying to go to court for traffic tickets when I realized that the ticket lawyers could do it cheaper and with no hassles. I would not take any chances with this.

 

[db_triggerfish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12024177#post12024177 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Von_Rahvin
no not knowing what you catch fishing is just plain stupid. If you don't know what it is, quite simply you shouldn't keep it.

he's lucky he didn't go to jail. He SHOULD have, and i do hope the law prosecutes to the fullest extent. .

Do i want to kill a Jewfish? Heck yeah.
Can i ? : no.

I AGREE HE SHOULD HAVE, i don't fish so it is an area i really don't know much about. Now the part about he should go to jail is over board, the man is 80 years old and a outstanding senior citizen, never has been in trouble with the law until now. Him and my mother in-law has fed DAILY for over 20 years elderly people which don't have the best circumstances. Listen, have a nice day and God Bless you.

 

[dent2011]

In response to the worms post, I have caught and eaten many large (25# plus) gag and carbo groupers that never had worms. Red groupers almost always have worms no matter the size, but they are small and easily picked out. I completely agree that you should always know what you are fishing for, and if you catch something else and you don't know what it is, take a few pics and throw it back! Or you could spearfish and be able to pick and choose exactly which fish to harvest.

 

[db_triggerfish]

Yep, Thanks i will tell him to hire a lawyer.

 

[Rogger Castells]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12024366#post12024366 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by db_triggerfish
I AGREE HE SHOULD HAVE, i don't fish so it is an area i really don't know much about. Now the part about he should go to jail is over board, the man is 80 years old and a outstanding senior citizen, never has been in trouble with the law until now. Him and my mother in-law has fed DAILY for over 20 years elderly people which don't have the best circumstances. Listen, have a nice day and God Bless you.

I couldn't agree more, You are a gentlemen!

 

[Ludwigia73]

I wasn't going to post since I didn't have anything CONSTRUCTIVE to add, but I will say, that was a very nice response to an obvious flame. Good job.

I agree that if you don't know what it is, throw it back, but I can honestly see where someone confused a grouper with a goliath. I personally wouldn't but then again, I'm a pretty avid fisherman. I agree the penalties should stick, but then again maybe just a little leniency is due in this case. I've personally kicked someone off my boat for keeping a too short grouper (it was 14" when the minimum was 20"). It was without my knowledge, after I told him to throw it back. I saw him take it out of my forward fishbox as we were nearing the dock, and I made him jump out on the dock and I backed out and left him. He had about a 20 minute walk back to his car with an undersize grouper. He's lucky I didn't make him swim home. He understood that day that he'd never fish on my boat ever again.

 

[sonic]

I can totally understand how he confused it with a grouper if hes not a fisherman, I mean its very similar to a gag or a black (specially a black) .

They are federally protected, get a lawyer.

btw, you cannot target these species and you are not even allowed to get one of these out the water for a picture. They must be released in the water if caught accidentally.

 

[Von_Rahvin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12024366#post12024366 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by db_triggerfish
I AGREE HE SHOULD HAVE, i don't fish so it is an area i really don't know much about. Now the part about he should go to jail is over board, the man is 80 years old and a outstanding senior citizen, never has been in trouble with the law until now. Him and my mother in-law has fed DAILY for over 20 years elderly people which don't have the best circumstances. Listen, have a nice day and God Bless you.

sounds nice on paper, but NOTHING in these waters looks like a baby Jewfish, one of the most distinct groupers you can catch. now if he had confused a gag with a black, i could see this. but nothing that is legal to kill that swims in the ocean looks like a 10# jewfish.

You can't keep any round tail groupers in US waters, it's pretty simple. It annoys me that people kill things that they don't have a clue what they are, and then say "i didn't know" and then others think it should be ok. I'm sure he's a great guy, but laws SHOULD be applied equally across the board or not at all.

In truth nothing will happen to him, i would get a lawyer but i would also not be too concerned. The Therapy IV out of haulover had many counts of killing short sailfish (also a federally protected species) and they are getting like 2 years after being prosecuted for the last year. These guys should be burned at a stake.

Prosecution of crimes like these are almost nonexistent, and the boats owner is more responsible, than your father.

I wish your father the best, but things like this make it harder for us to pass legislation so we can legally kill jewfish. I'm off my high horse and done.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12024177#post12024177 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Von_Rahvin
no not knowing what you catch fishing is just plain stupid. If you don't know what it is, quite simply you shouldn't keep it.

he's lucky he didn't go to jail. He SHOULD have, and i do hope the law prosecutes to the fullest extent. .

Do i want to kill a Jewfish? Heck yeah.
Can i ? : no.

that myfriend is as fascist as you can get

 

[Young Frankenstein]

If this is the first offense, he should not even pay anything, and let go with a warning.

 

[ReefWreak]

Prosecution of crimes like these are almost nonexistent, and the boats owner is more responsible, than your father.

Reminds me of the guy who I believe was running an LFS down in Miami, who was caught with his pants down, hauling what was it, 300 lbs or so of illigally collected live rock in a boat off the coast of Miami/Lauderdale. They talked about how many federal and local laws it broke, and how he could get 10+ years for it, etc etc etc, and I don't remember ever hearing if he got punished for it. Maybe a $5k fine, which is little more than he can get for it in his store selling it directly, especially if he's done it before without getting caught.

 

[sufunk]

I would definitely hire a lawyer and i'm not just saying that because i am one,lol.

Even elderly people with no record can still be made examples of. It's almost never as easy as "i'm a very good person and made a simple mistake".

If you want, pm me and i can give you the names of some lawyers who could help him out.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

lol the voulchers are getting ready for the feast