BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com
Three Lower Keys men accused of poaching more than 100 undersized lobsters and out-of-season stone crab off Little Torch Key, including a commercial fisherman and his son, were charged by state wildlife officials Thursday.
Benjamin Joseph White, 41, and his son, Christopher Joseph White, 18, both of Little Torch Key, and Edward Arthur Brusseau, 45, of Big Pine Key, were arrested on misdemeanor charges of possessing undersized wrung lobster tails and stone crab claws out of season.
Benjamin White was also charged with a misdemeanor for having expired boat tags and Brusseau faces additional misdemeanor charges of possession of under 20 grams of marijuana and pot paraphernalia.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers allege the elder White and Brusseau possessed 89 undersized wrung lobster tails and six stone crab claws. Christopher White allegedly possessed 13 undersized wrung tails and one stone crab claw, agency spokesman Bobby Dube said.
Florida stone crab season does not begin until Oct. 15.
The officers were in the “right place at the right time” at 5 a.m. Thursday when the trio was tying up in the mangroves, far from any marina or boat ramp, Dube said.
All three had been fishing with a bully net, a legal method employed at night when lobsters are walking along the flats. A flashlight helps spot the crayfish and a net attached to a long pole is placed on top of them, Dube said.
“Their eyes shine a like a deer in the shallow water and you can just scoop them up that way,” Dube said.
• In an unrelated case, the state also charged a 37-year-old Coral Springs woman with transporting lobsters from Marathon to a Pompano Beach fish house without a state license, trip tickets or bill of sale — all misdemeanors.
BY TIMOTHY O’HARA Citizen Staff
tohara@keysnews.com
Authorities are looking for an unscrupulous fisherman, or group of them, who placed illegal fish traps off Looe Key, one of the Florida Keys’ most protected and pristine coral reef patches.
The first trap was found July 30 anchored to a coral head to keep it from moving from its position, and the second was found last week, both on the reef line outside of the Looe Key Special Protection Area off Big Pine Key, which is a no-fishing zone, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary spokeswoman Karrie Carnes said.
The traps, wire cages with no biodegradable components, would kill fish if they went unchecked.
“There is no way they would open up on their own,” Carnes said.
The trap, designed with apparently new construction materials, led officials to believe the gear had been put in the water relatively recently “to intentionally poach from Keys waters,” National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Special Agent Kenneth Blackburn said. “To date we’ve found two subsurface traps, but there could be hundreds more indiscriminately harvesting from the sanctuary.”
Fish traps for large species such as snapper and grouper are illegal in Florida state and federal waters, though they can be used to catch small baitfish.
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council banned new traps in 1987 and phased out existing ones over a 10-year period. The South Atlantic Fishery Council followed suit in 1988, banning traps in the ocean’s federal waters 3 miles off the coast between North Carolina and Florida. One exception is small traps for black sea bass, mainly off the Carolinas. The Florida Legislature banned traps in state waters even earlier, in 1980, but allows traps for small bait and shellfish.
Fish traps have been a touchy issue in the Keys and across the state. Fishermen and environmentalists have long and vehemently opposed them, saying they indiscriminately catch too many other fish that die as they are brought to the surface, including angelfish, surgeonfish and other fish important to keeping reefs healthy.
North Florida’s long-line fishermen earlier this year asked that fish traps be allowed again, but the fishery management councils rejected the idea.
KEY WEST, Florida Keys — Melted butter is optional, but a taste for crustaceans is essential at the 14th annual Key West Lobsterfest scheduled Friday through Sunday, Aug. 6-8. The festival commemorates the start of the Florida Keys lobster season with events that include an open-air lobster feast on Key West’s famed Duval Street.
Florida lobsters, sometimes called spiny lobsters, are known for their sweet, tender meat. Unlike their northern cousins, the spiny specimens have no claws.
Purists savor them steamed, with each bite dipped in melted butter. They also can be baked and stuffed, served cold in salads or incorporated into dishes ranging from bisques to fritters to omelets.
The festival’s enticing “entrée” is the Key West Lobsterfest Street Fair, set for noon through 11 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 7, in the 100 through 500 blocks of Duval.
Lobster lovers can sample dishes ranging from tempting appetizers to traditional lobster dinners with all the trimmings. Chefs from as many as 20 local restaurants are to prepare specialties featuring fresh crustaceans caught by Florida Keys lobster fishermen.
Attendees also can browse and buy art, crafts and merchandise from on-site vendors.
A free outdoor concert is slated to begin at 1 p.m. and continue through 10:30 p.m. from a stage at the intersection of Duval and Greene streets. The talent lineup includes top local and regional acts Alphonse, Bubba System, Cool Breeze and Techno Dread.
Other Lobsterfest events include a kick-off party Friday, Aug. 6, at Rick’s/Durty Harry’s Entertainment Complex, 202 Duval St., a Friday night Duval Crawl and a mouthwatering lobster brunch Sunday, Aug. 8.
The crustacean celebration benefits a scholarship fund for Key West High School students.
For more information, visit www.keywestlobsterfest.com or e-mail info@ricksanddurtyharrys.com. For accommodations information in Key West, call the Key West Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-LAST-KEY (800-527-8539) or visit the Keys website at www.fla-keys.com.
Two Bay Point men were sentenced to a year in prison on charges that they conspired to poach lobster, a judge ruled Monday, closing the last chapter on two illegal lobster harvesting cases that snared eight people.
John Buckheim, 23, and Nick Demauro, 24, both apologized to federal Judge James Lawrence King, their friends, family and wildlife officers.
“I acknowledge and take full responsibility for what I did,” Buckheim said. “I was young and stupid and I’m not implying that I’m old or wise now, only that I’m heading in the right direction. … I’m sorry for this major mistake and you won’t find me in this position again.”
Demauro told the judge he had “taken everything for granted.”
Both men pleaded guilty in October to harvesting lobsters by diving on illegal artificial habitats, called casitas, primarily in the Content Keys area north of Big Pine Key, from July 2008 through October 2008, according to court documents.
The judge granted U.S. Attorney Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald’s request to delay their prison sentence 100 days so both men can continue their work removing as many as 600 casitas from Florida Keys waters. The judge ordered both to surrender to corrections officials on May 12.
The judge also allowed both men to resume legal commercial fishing immediately upon their release from prison, despite the prosecutor’s recommendation that both be prohibited during the two years of supervision that is to follow their release.
Miami defense attorneys Bruce Alter and Steven Potolsky urged the judge to consider the defendants’ ages, their clean criminal histories and their desire to make amends as mitigating factors at sentencing, but the prosecutor was unmoved, painting the men as astute fishermen who knew the risks involved.
“These were not youths who stumbled into this,” the prosecutor told the judge, describing taped conversations between the two men, and the hundreds of casitas they fished.
Buckheim and Demauro worked for David and Denise Dreifort of Cudjoe Key at one time. The latter were sentenced in July for spearheading a large lobster poaching ring that involved four other people, in a separate but related case. David Dreifort was sentenced to 2¬½ years in prison in July. His wife was sentenced to seven months in prison. Prosecutors found thousands of lobsters at one of their homes on Lookdown Lane last year.
Buckheim and Demauro began their own illegal operation after their stint with the Dreiforts, and they sold lobster to a Stock Island seafood company in 32 separate incidents for a total of $45,974, records say. The company has not been charged in the case, the prosecutor said.
Both men were warned by David Dreifort to cease their operation after he was indicted, but they continued, the prosecutor said. Federal agents began visual and electronic surveillance of Buckheim and Demauro during the larger investigation that involved the Dreiforts, reports say.
Both pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement in which prosecutors dropped two charges that could have added at least 10 years to their sentences.
Stanley Switlik Elementary School fifth graders recently spent the day at Sea Camp on Big Pine Key learning about nature and man's impact on the environment.
Students dug through algae to find brittle stars, worms, sea cucumbers, crabs and even shrimp. Staff assisted as students practiced snorkeling in the swim area before going out on the boats in the afternoon.
An afternoon snorkeling close to the mangroves gave the fifth graders a closeup look at lobster, moon jellyfish, different types of coral and sponges, snapper, and sea grasses.
Students learned how pollution causes harm to the near shore environment, and why certain sponges cause rashes. They even got a chance to practice some science, learning about the structure of sponges.
Sea Camp donated the trip for 88 Switlik students, teachers, and chaperons.
Seacamp is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that operates on the cooperative effort of parents, scientists, businessmen, camp leaders and others dedicated to the education of youth in marine science.
Located at Newfound Harbor on Big Pine Key, Sea Camp includes a science lab, recreation hall, dining hall, arts and crafts building, four dormitories and staff housing, along with other services including an infirmary.
Anyone interested in Sea Camp's mission, or working as a volunteer is invited to join the Seacamp Association, located at 1300 Big Pine Ave., Big Pine Key. For more information, call 872-2331.
This 13-minute video — which can take a while to load, so be patient — is the work of the South Florida National Parks Trust, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. It explains the background that led to creation of the natural area, which is hoped to allow fish populations to rebound and to provide a sanctuary if you will for coral reefs, which face threats from anchor damage, degraded water quality, and warming oceans.
Keep your suits on. After all the talk of a clothing-optional beach and a referendum on the Oct. 6 ballot, Key West City Commissioners unanimously killed the item at Tuesday’s meeting.
Commissioners said the lack of a specific site raised too many questions, calling it premature to begin the process of changing land-use rules to allow for designated “naturist” areas. They also said the proposed referendum could confuse voters.
“This is also not a proposal for Fantasy Fest. I want to end those comparisons,” Commissioner Clayton Lopez said. “I actually do support the naturists in their quest to find a place where they can go in comfort, but we have an obligation both to the naturists and to those who don’t want to be — excuse the pun — exposed to it.”
Interim Commissioner Joe Pais, who is filling out the term of Dan Kolhage, reminded commissioners of the long-gone businesses like Naked Lunch and Atlantic Shores and said that naturism may not be the economic draw supporters portray.
“They [the aforementioned businesses] failed. The thousands of people that are going to be here, they’re not going to be here,” Pais said. “We’re not going to trade our businesses for businesses that have already failed. Buy your own property. Start your own business.”
Mayoral candidate Sloan Bashinsky called out commissioners for not having the political courage to make a tough decision, rather than sending the nude beach issue to a non-binding referendum.
“You seven should have made the decision. That’s what you were elected to do,” Bashinsky said. “I will never pass the buck like that. That is weenie-ing out and I accuse you, Mr. Verge, of being a weenie.”
District I Commissioner Bill Verge laughed that off and joined the rest of the commission in killing the referendum.
City staff is working with commissioners to set up public workshops to discuss the idea of designated naturist beaches. For more information, go to www.kwfb.org .
Federal authorities arrested two Lower Keys commercial lobster divers Friday on charges of illegally harvesting more than 1,000 pounds of lobster worth at least $17,000.
John Buckheim and Nick Demauro, of 79 Palm Drive in the Saddlebunch Keys, were arrested by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration law enforcement agents. The pair are accused of sinking a boat to create an artificial habitat, known as a casita, south of Sammy’s Creek Bridge on Sugarloaf Key on Oct. 29, 2008, according to a federal indictment.
Prosecutors allege the poaching began in 2008 and continued into this year, reports say.
Both men are scheduled to appear in a Miami courthouse today.
The arrest comes a week before the start of the commercial lobster season.
With the winding down of the fawning season in July, quite often we feel that the fawns have had time to adjust to vehicles. However, the Lower Keys has on occasion experienced a crop of new fawns in August. Residents are being cautioned to watch out for new fawns during this time.
Residents living in Key deer habitat need to be aware that as a doe crosses a road, a fawn may be following and the fawn will not understand the threat that a vehicle can present and may run in front of the vehicle. These new fawns have not had time to experience vehicles and may dart across a road unexpectedly. Other hazards to deer and fawns in particular, include free-roaming dogs. Even if a dog does not catch a fleeing fawn, it may die from being chased into traffic or a canal. Residents are reminded that dogs on refuge lands must be on a leash. Residents seeing free-roaming dogs are encouraged to report them to animal control (305-743- 3779).
