Bluefin Bust - I disagree

[george]

(Illegal) Catch of a Lifetime - Ambrose Channel, Marine District

On May 8, Sgt. Auguscinski and ECO Brussell inspected a vessel in Queens County and found the crew in possession of a 700-pound Bluefin Tuna. ECOs were tipped off by a Facebook post to meet the vessel at the dock. Upon inspection of the vessel, the Officers found that the crew did not possess the Federal Highly Migratory Species permit needed to fish for tuna. Officers in DEC’s Region 2 are also deputized NOAA Officers and referred the case to the federal agency to adjudicate.

 

[george]

I'm not in favor of this one at all. I get that you need the $26 HMS Permit, but how could the ECO's know that without actually boarding the boat. So here we have a rec angler catching the fish of a lifetime. He posts it on FB and one of the many haters drops a dime to the local ECO's and they're waiting at the dock for them? What exactly were they waiting on and why? Did they know they didn't have the permit? Or did they figure they must have done something wrong.

I'm sorry, these anglers went from euphoria by landing the fish of a lifetime only to find out that they were being set up when they returned. Should DEC be announcing every time an angler is caught without a permit?

 

[Makomasher78]

Why would you need to pay 26 bucks to catch fish in the ocean? It's not like the government is hatching blue fin tuna and releasing for your sporting pleasure its bullshit. Just another sneaky tax . Tax for use of mother nature it's no different than charging to use the oxygen in the air to breathe people just take the crap and think it's acceptable. It's not alot of money that's not my argument it's just the point why are we being charged for the " privilege " of catching naturally occurring food that travels in international waters not supplied by government etc . I would hire a good lawyer and throw money and it good chance you could win at great cost and although still loose sometime fighting for what's right is worth winning while loosing at the same time

 

[Roccus7]

I started a lengthy diatribe to differ with you @george , but now I'd lay the blame on NY DEC for this one. I just checked on their Recreational Saltwater web pages and NOWHERE do they mention the need of a HMS Permit for tuna, nor shark fishing!!

Maine does, and we sure can catch tuna and shark inside state waters, although interestingly enough, we can't retain "coastal sharks including shortfin mako in Maine's territorial waters"...:

To fish for bluefin tuna, a Federal Highly Migratory Species Permit is required. For permits and current fishing regulations visit: hmspermits.noaa.gov or call 1-888

To fish for sharks (blue, porbeagle, and common thresher sharks) a Federal Highly Migratory Species Permit is required. For permits and current fishing regulations visit: hmspermits.noaa.gov or call 1-888- 872-8862. Anglers are prohibited from taking coastal sharks including shortfin mako in Maine’s territorial waters.

Regardless of regulations, this incident touches on one of my favorite peeves, folks who post EVERYTHING on Facebook, which is law Enforcement's best friend. I tell my children everyday, assume EVERYTHING you post on-line is seen by the very people you don't want to see your post.

BTW, the DEC post doesn't specify that a "Hater" tipped off the DEC, it says a Facebook post tipped them off. I'll bet that it's someone's job at DEC to monitor Facebook for these very type of "Look What We Caught" posts...

Still don't feel as sorry for these guys as I do for that one freaky guy every few years who hooks and lands a bluefin off the beach, keeps it, and gets busted because he posted it on fishing websites/Facebook The HMS Angler Permit is assigned to a boat, not a person so even if you had one for your boat, you still can't legally retain a bluefin caught from the beach, but that is something that very few surfcasters are cognizant of.

 

[TonySmjc]

Every agency and most larger companies and institutions monitor the internet these days

simply a fact of life

 

[george]

Every agency and most larger companies and institutions monitor the internet these days

simply a fact of life

I'm not convinced that they caught this guy in real-time. Someone had to tell them they were on their way back and illegal. I have seen it many times in the past. One time we published a photo of a guy holding a sturgeon in Nor'east Saltwater and I had officials reach out to see if I could identify him.

We only have like 40 ECO's, and while I agree they're watching every social media account of many anglers, they'd have to get pretty lucky to stumble onto this one. I'm guessing the anglers were allowed to keep the fish as nothing was mentioned otherwise. Also, there's no mention of any prosecution for anything other than no HMS Permit.

Are we now going to post a picture of anyone without an HMS permit? Many of them have no clue what it is as it's nowhere on the NYSDEC regulations? Yea, yea, I know we should all be aware of regulations, but with the frequency of the changes, you need to really educate yourself.

If not you'll probably get snitched on by the internet mafia.

 

[Roccus7]

I'm not convinced that they caught this guy in real-time. Someone had to tell them they were on their way back and illegal. I have seen it many times in the past. One time we published a photo of a guy holding a sturgeon in Nor'east Saltwater and I had officials reach out to see if I could identify him.

We only have like 40 ECO's, and while I agree they're watching every social media account of many anglers, they'd have to get pretty lucky to stumble onto this one. I'm guessing the anglers were allowed to keep the fish as nothing was mentioned otherwise. Also, there's no mention of any prosecution for anything other than no HMS Permit.

Are we now going to post a picture of anyone without an HMS permit? Many of them have no clue what it is as it's nowhere on the NYSDEC regulations? Yea, yea, I know we should all be aware of regulations, but with the frequency of the changes, you need to really educate yourself.

If not you'll probably get snitched on by the internet mafia.

Oh, you'd be surprised with the desire to toot one's horn and when Posting While Uneducated, this can be fatal...

On NE, the year that the Mako Regs changed to 83" for both sexes, someone boasted of catching and keeping a REALLY SHORT mako w/pictures. Obviously they were oblivious to the new rule, but it still took 3 PMs from me to finally convince them to take their "Look at us!" post down.

Sure it could have been a hater, but you don't have to monitor individual FB accounts to get info; one could monitor general FB group fish-related accounts that don't require being a "friend". With the scarcity of ECOs, I'm guessing that someone else in DEC monitors the internet, not the ECOs themselves, and was the informer. Heck, it could have been a monitor from NOAA, NFMS, etc. They can come from anywhere interested in fishery management.

These poor guys could have been in deeper doo-doo had they caught that fish on May 12 or later. At 11:59 PM on May 11, Angler Permit holders north of Egg Harbor, NJ, lost the ability to keep their 1 tuna > 73".

As Sy Sims used to say, "An educated consumer is our best customer" and NCOs probably say, "If you're oblivious, you'll be hearing from us"!!

 

[TonySmjc]

You really can never be sure if it was a rat
Or if you were your own rat

the internet is a tough neighborhood if your not carefull

 

[george]

@Roccus7 I think his name was Sy Sims

 

[Roccus7]

@Roccus7 I think his name was Sy Sims

Yeah, DUH!!! I'll fix...