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January 10, 2025, through January 16, 2025
This report represents some events the FWC handled over specified weeks;
however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement.
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 CASES
Franklin County
- Officer J. Stallings observed a subject culling clusters of oysters at a cleaning station near Carrabelle River and conducted a resource inspection. Officer Stallings discovered the subject was in possession of multiple unculled oysters and they had been harvested from a closed area within Apalachicola Bay. Officer Stallings issued the subject a notice to appear for the violation.
 CASES
Lafayette County
- Officers Boone and Cline conducted a resource inspection on individuals who were hunting waterfowl. The officers located cracked corn in the pond the subjects were hunting. Appropriate charges were issued for the violation.
SEARCH AND RESCUE
Suwannee County
- Officers Boone, Cline, Covington, and Lieutenant McDonald responded to a report of a lost hiker along the Suwannee River. Officers were advised by the reporting party that his friend had gone hiking and had not returned after several hours. Additional officers were called to help including T. Nichols and Suwannee County DOC K-9 team. After a brief search, Officer R. Covington located the subject, who was unharmed.
 CASES
Osceola County
- K-9 Officer Hocker received information that an individual was illegally hunting South Florida Water Management District properties. Officer Hocker and team located the property and conducted surveillance. They heard gun shots and later saw an individual exit the property. During the investigation, the subject admitted he was hunting the property and had illegally taken a deer on another property the week prior. The appropriate law enforcement action was taken.
 CASES
Hillsborough County
- Officers Bothe and Klipin initiated a stop on a vessel that was on plane in an idle speed zone. During the interaction, the officers conducted a resource inspection and found 13 undersized spotted seatrout, after the subjects claimed they had no fish on board and had attempted to hide their catch. The subjects were charged with undersized and over the bag limit of seatrout and interference with an officer.
Pasco County
- Officers Ferguson and Criswell conducted a resource inspection on a subject fishing at the Anclote Gulf Park who had seven spotted seatrout in his possession, two over the legal bag limit. The appropriate citation was issued.
- Officer Criswell conducted a resource inspection on a subject fishing at the Anclote Gulf Park who had a redfish and four spotted seatrout in his possession. The redfish and one of the spotted seatrout were under the legal size limit. The appropriate citation and warning were issued.
Pinellas County
- While on patrol, Officer Specialist McCormack was conducting resource inspections at the Gandy Bridge fishing access area. As the officer was about to leave, an angler told him a group he had checked earlier removed fish from a hidden spot in the rocks when he was out of sight and left. A few hours later, Officer Specialist returned to the Gandy Bridge after receiving a tip the group was back fishing and placing fish in the trunk of their car. The officer conducted a resource inspection and found no one in the group had a fishing license even though they had received a warning for that. The group informed Officer Specialist McCormack they had no fish. A resource inspection of their vehicle revealed a plastic bag containing six undersized spotted seatrout, one undersized sheepshead, and two grunt fish. All three individuals observed fishing were issued a resource citation for no/expired resident saltwater shoreline fishing license. Moreover, the owner of the vehicle found to be containing the fish was cited for over the daily bag limit of spotted seatrout, undersized spotted seatrout, and undersized sheepshead.
Sarasota County
- Officer Morrow gave a presentation about alligators at the Carlton Reserve. There were approximately 250 children that attended the “Cub Crawl” event that was hosted by the Sarasota County Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources and Friends of Carlton Reserve. These annual events are geared to teaching youth about wildlife and habitation.
 CASES
Broward County
- Officers Cusick, Palacios, Dudas, and Officer Specialist Bruder conducted a resource inspection on a vessel at the Port Everglades Inlet. Their inspection revealed the vessel was returning from the Bahamas with several wrung lobster tails, queen conch, and skinless filets onboard. The operator was issued federal citations for Lacey Act violations.
- Officers Giani and Gonzalez observed a subject with a speargun and gamefish at the Loxahatchee boat ramp. They conducted a resource inspection and discovered the subject was in possession of speared butterfly peacock bass. The officers issued the subject a notice to appear citation for illegal method of harvest of peacock bass.
- Officer Giani and Officer Gonzalez stopped to investigate a vessel with flashing blue and white lights near the Hillsboro Inlet. Their investigation revealed the operator had no justifiable reason to be flashing blue and white lights. The officers issued the operator a citation for flashing lights while operating a vessel.
Palm Beach County
- Officer Eustice was conducting a fisheries inspection at a spillway in Jupiter and observed four subjects with a large cast net and spearguns in the mangroves below the spillway. Officer Eustice noticed a speared snook on the bank along with two spearguns hidden in the bushes. Upon further inspection, Officer Eustice found an additional speargun, mask, and two speared snook tied to a line inside a culvert. One individual was charged for the violations.
- Lieutenant Warne and Officer Trawinski stopped a fishing vessel that had entered the Palm Beach Inlet from offshore. The officers conducted a resource inspection and discovered five mutton snapper in the cooler, four of which were undersized. The vessel owner was cited for the violation.
- Officers Brevik and Meding were working at the J.W. Corbett Wildlife Management Area when they observed two subjects walking out of the woods, wearing camouflage and carrying long guns. Upon inspecting the subjects, the officers discovered one of them was hunting with a centerfire rifle, which is prohibited in the area where they were hunting. While inspecting their licenses, the officers also noticed loose, dried corn in their backpacks. The officers asked if they had placed corn (bait) in the wildlife management area, to which the subjects admitted they had. The officers then walked to the area where the subjects had been hunting and found corn placed adjacent to their treestands. The subjects were cited for hunting over bait, placing bait, and hunting with a centerfire rifle.
 CASES
Monroe County
- Officer Alexander observed a subject pull a trap up to the shoreline on the ocean side of the 35 MM, open the trap, retrieve a lobster and place it inside a catch bag. A resource inspection was conducted and it was discovered the subject had two lobster in the catch bag and one was undersized. The subject admitted taking lobsters from the trap and stated he was not a commercial angler and did not have permission from the owner to take from the trap. The subject was arrested and transported to Stock Island Jail for trap molestation and undersized lobster.
- An FWC officer was in contact with a subject who had made little to no progress in removing a sunken barge and crane from the waters of the state behind a residence at Little Torch Key. The officer arrested the subject and transported them to Stock Island jail for commercial dumping and derelict vessel violations.
- FWC Lieutenant Brian Sapp and Officers Jeremy Foell, Venus Garcia, and Timothy McGeary partnered with Monroe County Sheriff Office and conducted roadside cleanup for over two miles along US-1 in the lower Keys. Approximately 60 pounds of roadside trashed was collected by FWC officers. Collectively, FWC and MCSO filled an entire dumpster!
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