From catching cast netters on camera to busting illegal sidewalk fish markets, here are some of the highlights from recent statewide fishing compliance checks:
- On October 10, ECO Dickson received a complaint about a boat spotted at a gas dock in Suffolk County with a blackfish (tautog) in a bucket, five days before the start of blackfish season on the South Shore. ECO Dickson contacted the U.S. Coast Guard for assistance and set out to search for the vessel. Eventually, Officers spotted the boat matching the complaint description pulling into a dock. ECO Dickson interviewed the fisherman who claimed he only caught a striped bass that day. Further investigation determined this to be false. Officers found the out-of-season blackfish in the bucket, as reported, as well as several other out-of-season and undersized fish species in multiple locations throughout the boat, resulting in multiple citations for the angler.
- On October 12, ECOs in Kings County received a tip about illegal Chinese mitten crabs at a store in Brooklyn. ECO Kortz responded to the location and discovered 289 crabs illegally imported from China in Styrofoam containers in the store’s basement. Chinese mitten crabs are illegal to possess in New York State because they are highly invasive. A Notice of Violation issued to the store is pending. Shortly after leaving the store, Officer Kortz conducted a market check at a nearby supermarket and discovered illegally possessed blood clams. A further investigation revealed the same individual possessing the blood clams had been issued two tickets the week before for the same offense by the same Officer. Approximately 250 blood clams were seized from the second store and tickets issued.
- ECOs in Manhattan recently conducted a detail focused on the illegal sale of fish on New York City streets. Officers issued tickets for untagged striped bass and blackfish for sale, as well as possessing fish below the legal size limit, all returnable to New York County Criminal Court.
- On October15, opening day for blackfish (tautog), ECOs Perkins and Paschke conducted recreational saltwater fishing compliance checks at the Smith Point Outer Beach in Suffolk County. A fisherman approached the Officers during the patrol to report a group of anglers on the jetty catching “short fish.” As the ECOs approached the group, one angler, bent down near rocks, began pulling fish out of the rocks and tossing them back into the water, despite repeated commands to stop. The Officers, with assistance from ECO DeRose and his K-9 partner Cramer, discovered 22 blackfish, 14 of which were undersized. ECOs issued a total of 18 tickets to the five anglers for charges including dumping fish upon signals to stop, failure to possess a Marine Registry, undersized species, over-the-limit species, and failure to release without undue harm.
- In the early morning hours of October 27, ECOs Traynor and Kortz observed a commercial vessel dock and offload containers into the Kings County marina’s parking lot. The Officers discovered 85 untagged commercially harvested black fish (tautog) in an aerated tank awaiting transport to a local market to be sold for $14 per pound, for a total value of $3,100. Of the 85 fish, 20 were smaller than the legal commercial size of 15 inches. The legal commercial limit for blackfish is 25 per day. ECOs seized more than 200 pounds of fish and issued a Notice of Violation to the defendant.
