On March 17, ECOs Milliron, Clinger, Rappold, Kortz, and Lieutenant Macropoulos conducted enforcement details focused on protecting striped bass during the closed season during nighttime high tide in Queens and Bronx counties. In Bronx County, Officers Kortz and Rappold conducted plainclothes surveillance at Ferry Point Park and observed an angler going back and forth to a wooded location in the park. The Officers contacted ECOs Milliron and Clinger who approached the subject. During the interview, Officers heard unusual sounds coming from the nearby woods. ECO Clinger entered the wooded area to investigate and observed a second subject holding down a striped bass with his hands and knees as the fish flopped about in the leaves. The Officers located seven striped bass in the wooded area and issued tickets to both anglers for taking striped bass out of season and failure to release without undue harm, returnable to Bronx County Criminal Court. Striped bass season opens on April 15 with a limit of one fish per day between 28 and 31 inches.
