Keys Treasures Blog » Fishing

3 Lower Florida Keys Lobster Mobsters Arrested

Keys — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 22:19:25 +0000

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.

Illegal Fish Traps Found Near Looe Key

Keys — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 02:54:49 +0000

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 Largo Lobster Mobsters Sentenced to Jail Time

Keys — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 03:47:25 +0000

By DAVID GOODHUE
dgoodhue@keysreporter.com

Michael Cavagnaro, the former Key Largo elected official convicted of molesting lobster traps in June, was denied a new trial Friday and sentenced to nine months in county jail.

His son, 33-year-old Michael Cavagnaro Jr., was sentenced to four months in jail.

Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Luis Garcia also sentenced both men to four years probation and eight hours a month of community service, ordered their commercial fishing licenses revoked and banned them from the water on both the oceanside and bayside of Monroe County.

Bill Heffernan, the attorney who represented both men during their trial and only the younger Cavagnaro at Friday’s sentencing hearing, said he and Joel Hirschhorn, the elder Cavagnaro’s attorney, have filed an appeal with the state’s Third Court of Appeal.

“I truly believe they are innocent. This is a sad case,” Heffernan said in an interview.

Garcia set bail at $50,000 each. It was not clear at press time if the father and son posted bail and were released.

The Cavagnaros, both commercial lobster fishermen, were charged with tampering with another commercial angler’s trap on Aug. 25, 2009. At the time, Cavagnaro was an elected member of the Key Largo Fire and Emergency Medical Services District. Gov. Charlie Crist removed him from office following his arrest.

A jury convicted the men on June 23.

Heffernan argued during Friday’s hearing at the Plantation Key Courthouse that “the weight of the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict in this case.” He also said several of the tactics used by the prosecution unfairly prejudiced the jury.

First, Heffernan argued that prosecutors violated Garcia’s instructions not to mention anything that happened 14 days beyond Aug. 25, 2009.

During the trial, prosecutor Colleen Dunne questioned Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers and several fishermen. They testified that no traps belonging to the Cavagnaros were found in the area where witnesses said the Cavagnaros had pulled another fisherman’s trap.

The FWC officers checked the area more than 14 days after the Cavagnaros were arrested. Heffernan argued that mentioning that in the trial violated Garcia’s instructions. Dunne countered that since the elder Cavagnaro claimed he and his son were in the area checking on their traps that day, it was the FWC’s responsibility to verify if any were there. None were ever found, she said.

Heffernan also argued for a new trial based on a witness he said Dunne called to the stand specifically to humiliate. Dunne said she called the witness, Michael Cavagnaro’s girlfriend, because the defense had said she would testify but then removed her name. Her testimony did not match earlier statements she made, which Dunne pointed out while she was on the stand.

The Cavagnaros hadn’t planned to testify during the four-day trial, Heffernan said, but were forced to after Cavagnaro’s girlfriend’s testimony differed from her deposition on key areas of the case.

Hirschhorn also tried to get results of a polygraph test he arranged for the Cavagnaros submitted as evidence for a new trial. Both men scored high on the questions they were asked, Hirschhorn said. “They were two of the highest scores I have ever seen,” he said.

Garcia denied the request, saying polygraph results are not reliable, and these results were particularly questionable because the defense hired the technician and no one from law enforcement was present. “The stress levels are a lot different when the results do not have to be considered,” Garcia said.

Heffernan and Hirschhorn offered several other arguments in their motion for a new trial, all of which Garcia denied.

Trap molesting is a third-degree felony, and third-degree felonies can in some cases be punishable by up to five years in prison. But a law passed by the state Legislature went into effect last summer that makes it almost impossible for a judge to sentence prison time for a non-violent third-degree felony. Prosecutors must prove the person would be a threat to society if he or she were not incarcerated, Garcia said.

Nevertheless, Dunne wanted the Cavagnaros sentenced to two years in prison, arguing to Garcia that they were a threat to the Keys’ commercial fishing industry.

“[The law] doesn’t mean they have to be a violent threat… . “They molested traps from brother fishermen who were already suffering from the down economy,” Dunne said

Garcia disagreed, taking into account the scores of letters from neighbors, former colleagues and family members praising the men’s characters and past good deeds, as well as the elder Cavagnaro’s service as a member of the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Department. He worked for Palm Beach County from the 1980s to 2001, when he left on disability because of work-related injuries.

Garcia said he also took into account the elder Cavagnaro’s time volunteering at Ground Zero in Manhattan days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

One elderly man told Garcia that the Cavagnaros went out of their way to help their neighbors on several occasions.

“”My wife has taken ill several times recently, and Mike was at the door every single time,” neighbor Donald Balletti said. “It’s totally inconceivable that he would be involved in something like this.”

Key West Lobster Fest 2010

Keys — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 00:35:51 +0000

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.

Key Largo Lobster Mobsters Convicted

Keys — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:47:17 +0000

By GARY PHILLIPS
KeysNews.com
Saturday, June 12, 201

Nearly nine months to the day after being accused of molesting a commercial lobster trap, two Key Largo men were convicted on third-degree felony charges.

Ruben Barbuscio, 62, and Daniel Peralta, 53, were led in handcuffs from a Plantation Key courtroom after Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Luis Garcia found them guilty on Thursday. The pair waived their right to a jury trial and opted to have their case heard by Garcia.

Their crime occurred on Sept. 11, when commercial fisherman Abilio Gil and his stepson, Yardiel Penton, videotaped Barbuscio and Peralta pulling a lobster trap belonging to commercial fisherman Dana Pettit onto Barbuscio’s boat between Rodriguez Key and Tavernier Creek.

In announcing his ruling, Garcia said the poor-quality video was of little value as evidence, but it did contain Gil’s spoken description of the defendants’ action. Gil was watching through binoculars while Penton operated the camcorder. Garcia said the eyewitness account was credible and weighed heavily in his decision.

Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne also provided photos of the trap, buoy and rope, and had the trap brought into the courtroom. She said the photos taken the day of the incident clearly show the rope and trap had been recently handled, as silt and marine growth on the items had been disturbed.

A sentencing hearing is set for June 29.

Lobster Mobster Harry Bethel Jr Found Guilty

Keys — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:26:16 +0000

BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com

It took a jury four hours Friday to find Harry Bethel Jr. and his two mates guilty of pulling another fisherman’s lobster traps three years ago.

Bethel Jr., 48, and co-defendants Shamus Davis, 32, and Lawrence Pinder, 54, were found guilty of one count of trap molestation, a third-degree felony with a maximum punishment of five years in prison. Each is scheduled to be sentenced before circuit Judge David Audlin on June 28.

Audlin granted Assistant State Attorney Val Winter’s request that fishing licenses for each man be revoked pending sentencing. Each could have their licenses permanently revoked at that time, Winter said. None of the defendants was taken into custody, as Audlin did not find them to be a threat to the community, Winter said. Each initially was charged with two counts of trap molestation. Jurors found them guilty of pulling only one of the two traps the state argued they molested while fishing aboard Bethel Jr.’s crawfish vessel, the Kayla Renee II, near Sugarloaf Key in 2007.

“They found them guilty on the trap that [a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)] pilot had under constant surveillance,” Winter said. Two FWC officers responded to the Kayla Renee II under the direction of FWC pilot Lt. John Murphy, according to court testimony. Much of the state’s case centered on Murphy’s testimony of what he saw while on patrol about 2,000 to 3,000 feet in the air.

Defense attorney Manny Garcia, who is representing Bethel, and Assistant Public Defender Christopher Bridger, assigned to the other two defendants, hammered away in their closing arguments Friday at what Murphy was able to see from that height. It was the second trial in the case, as prosecutors failed to convince a jury in January that the fishermen had molested any traps. Audlin declared a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict in the first trial.

In an unrelated arson case, Bethel Jr. has not accepted a plea agreement offered by prosecutors. Winter declined to comment on the specifics of the offer until it has been legally accepted or rejected in court and made public. That charge carries a maximum of 35 years in prison and $5,000 in fines if Bethel is found guilty. Prosecutors allege he set fire to a thatched-roof tiki hut at the home of his cousin and business partner, with whom he was arguing, in September 2007.

Bethel is the son of former Key West City Commissioner Harry Bethel Sr. and current Key West Bight Board chairman.

Gov. OKs Free Saltwater Fishing Weekends

Keys — Sat, 29 May 2010 14:11:34 +0000

Gov. Charlie Crist is offering two free fishing weekends to help draw visitors to the states beaches. Both residents and tourists can fish for saltwater species around the state without a license from today to Monday, and on June 5 and 6.

All other fishing rules apply. Bookings have declined since the Gulf oil spill started on April 20, though oil has not directly impacted the state so far. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is monitoring the situation and potential impacts to the states fish and wildlife, said Chairman Rodney Baretto. Fishing organizations are concerned about inaccurate perceptions and want to get the message out that the industry is open for business. Go to http://www.MyFWC.com/Fishing to learn more.

via Mile Markers | KeysNews.com.

Spring Florida Keys Bonefish Population Census

Keys — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:10:19 +0000

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Esteemed Guides and Anglers, we need your help! This will be our third consecutive year of conducting a Spring Bonefish Population Census to calibrate with results from the Fall Florida Keys Bonefish Population Census, now in its 8 th year. The 2010 Spring census event is planned for Wednesday, April 21, 2010.

Bonefishing is a multimillion dollar industry in the Florida Keys and virtually all of the fish are released unharmed to fight again. The bonefish census, coordinated by the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) and the University of Miami RSMAS , helps to determine population trends of one of the Keys most important sport fish. This is the first and only population estimate ever done on bonefish anywhere in the world. The census information is vital to evaluating year-to-year changes in the bonefish population and providing guidance that ensures a sustainable fishery!!!

Fall census results have indicated a population of just over 320,000 bonefish in the Florida Keys fishery. We want to use the Spring census to calibrate our Fall estimates and to determine if there is a seasonal component to the bonefish population size estimates. Of particular note, your participation in this year’s census is critically important because we are trying to get a handle on the extent to which January’s extremely cold weather has impacted the Florida Keys bonefish population.

Our ability to detect population size differences from year to year depends on the number of census participants. The more participants we have the more robust our population size estimate. Please volunteer to help us as we need greater coverage of the fishery running from Key Biscayne to the Marquesas. All the information collected during the census will remain strictly confidential and be used only for scientific research purposes.

If you are able to participate please contact Dr. Jerry Ault at jault@rsmas.miami.edu or 305-421-4884. Once we have heard from you we will mail you a census package with a datasheet. Your responsibilities are minimal, all we ask is that you record: the zone(s) you fished; the distance poled; and, the number of bonefish seen. Simple, but very important! Finally, census datasheets will also be available from Florida Keys Outfitters (305-664-5423) or can be downloaded at www.bonefishresearch.com

We are counting on you to help us determine the current population size of this very important sports fish.
Dr. Jerry Ault
jault@rsmas.miami.edu

FWC Proposes More Protection for Bonefish

Keys — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 01:36:13 +0000

Contact: Lee Schlesinger, 850-487-0554

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission FWC proposed draft rule amendments Thursday to provide more protection for bonefish, a premier saltwater game fish in Florida.”Bonefish are a tremendous Florida resource,” said FWC Chairman Rodney Barreto. “These proposed rules will strengthen our management approach to protect and preserve bonefish so that anglers can continue to enjoy fishing for this great Florida game fish.”The proposed rules would include all species of bonefish in the FWCs bonefish management rules to help ensure that all bonefish in Florida waters are protected, extend FWC bonefish regulations into adjacent federal waters to aid enforcement and enhance bonefish protection, and require that bonefish be landed in whole condition to help officers in the field identify bonefish and aid in enforcement of bag and size limits.

Since 1988, it has been illegal to commercially harvest and sell bonefish in Florida, and a daily recreational bag limit of one bonefish 18 inches or greater in fork length applies.However, there is a temporary harvest and possession prohibition on bonefish in Florida until April 1 as a precaution, because of possible impacts to fish populations that may have occurred from the recent prolonged cold weather in Florida. Anglers may still catch and release bonefish during the temporary closure, and the FWC encourages everyone to handle and release them carefully to help ensure their survival upon release.A final public hearing on these proposed bonefish rule amendments will take place during the FWCs April meeting in the Tallahassee area.

via FWC News – FWC proposes more protection for bonefish.

You might be a fisherman if..

Keys — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:09:30 +0000

1. You have a power worm dangling from you rear view mirror because you think it makes a good air freshener.
2. You wedding party has to tie tin cans to the back of your boat.
3. You call your boat “sweetheart” and your wife “skeeter.”
4. Your local tackle shop has your credit card number on file.
5. You keep a flippin stick by your favorite chair to change the tv channels with.
6. You get 40 to life because your teenager asked you to buy a jet ski.
7. You name your black lab “Mercury” and your cat “Evinrude”.
8. Bass Pro Shop has a private line just for you.
9. You honeymooned in Islamorada – ALONE.
10. You have your name painted on a parking space at the launch ramp.
11. You have a photo of your 40 lb. grouper on your desk at work instead of your family.
12. You consider viennies and crackers a complete meal.
13. You think MEGABYTES means a great day fishing.
14. You send your kid off to the first day of school with his shoes tied in a polomar knot.
15. Your wife wears green lipstick so you’ll kiss her more.
16. You think there are four seasons – Pre-spawn, Spawn, Post spawn and Hunting.
17. Your $30,000 boat’s trailer need’s tires so you “borrow” the one’s off your trailer house.
18. Your wife tells you she is feeling “frisky” but you don’t know what she means until she explains she wants to spawn.
19. You trade your wife’s van for a smaller vehicle so your boat will fit in the garage.
20. Your kids know it’s Saturday – because the boat is gone.

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