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Florida Shrimp Boat Deck-Hand Arrested For Undersized Lobster Tails

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KEY WEST (CBSMiami) -- A commercial shrimp boat crew member is under arrest for possession of dozens of undersized Florida spiny lobster tails.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, officers boarded the commercial shrimp boat Three Princess off Key West on November 28.

While onboard, the officers found three large sacks of spiny lobster hidden beneath sacks of shrimp in the below-deck freezer.

In total, there were 101 spiny lobster, and 33 of them were undersized.

Illegal Lobster
FWC arrest shrimp boat deck-hand for possession of undersized Florida spiny Lobster tail (FWC)

A deck-hand admitted to harvesting all of the lobster, without the other deck-hands knowledge.

The crewmember was arrested and booked into the Monroe County Detention facility on numerous misdemeanor charges.

The officers also discovered numerous turtle excluding device (TED) violations and the marine sanitation device (MSD) was discharging overboard.

A turtle excluder device is a specialized device that allows a captured sea turtle to escape when caught in a fisherman's net.

The federal TED violations were documented and will be forwarded to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

An MSD is a piece of machinery or mechanical system that treats, processes, or stores raw, untreated sewage that can accumulate onboard water vessels.

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