Posted on 02/26/2007 6:25:02 PM PST by devane617
Max Mayfield, the former director of the National Hurricane Center, is under investigation by his former employer for possibly violating fishing laws.
Mayfield caught a 200-pound Goliath grouper while fishing with friends in the Gulf of Mexico a few days after his retirement Jan. 1. The boat captain and crew slid the grouper into the boat through a door in the back, unhooked it, snapped a few celebratory photos and slid it back into the water. It swam away.
Such photographs are common fare in fishing magazines, but since Goliath is protected species bringing one into the boat is illegal, even if just for a few minutes. Doing so can damage a protective slime the covers the fish.
Mayfield, 58, said Monday he had no idea he had done anything wrong until newspapers published a photo of the catch and someone complained to the National Marine Fisheries Service, a branch of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, which also oversees the National Hurricane Center.
“I love to fish, but I haven’t done any in a long time. I don’t know the rules,’’ Mayfield said. “Nobody on that boat knew the rules.’’
Tracey Dunn, who oversees federal fishing enforcement in Florida, declined to discuss specifics of Maxwell’s grouper because it is under review by the fisheries service general counsel.
Sanctions can range from a written reprimand to a civil fine.
Though lack of knowledge about rules is not a defense, Dunn said, federal agents often focus their investigation more on a boat captain, or other experienced fishermen rather than on an inexperienced client.
The boat in question was the 34-foot Bud&Mary, owned and captained by Richard Stanczyk, who operates a marina in Islamorada. He says he has fished the Keys for 29 years and never heard that putting a Goliath temporarily in the boat is illegal.
Stanczyk holds a charter captain’s license but said he rarely takes out clients. Mayfield is a friend, Stanczyk said, and the trip was for fun, not hire. Mayfield’s son and three others also went along. Mayfield tied into the Goliath west of Key West.
“My boat has a tuna door in the back. When you open it, you can slide the fish through,’’ Stanczyk said. “He was laying in water. We took a few hooks out of him and let him go in better shape than when we found him.’’
Stanczyk said he is embarrassed for Mayfield, a familiar face for years as he interpreted storm data on national television from the hurricane center.
“A great debt is owed to him.’’ Stanczyk said. “For those of us living in the Keys, we live and die with hurricanes approaching and we relied on him.’’
Reef fish that big are no good to eat and will probably make you sicker than you'd ever want to be.
This is a very good tasting fish. My Dad caught one in the 50's that weight about 130 pounds. We ate on that thing for a year. It was great.
With the freshies I used to catch (don't fish anymore), I would try to actually cut the hook so the line and eye remained with me to release the fish, IF I couldn't get the hook out. With a 200 pounder, just getting it to the edge of the boat would be a chore and lifting it with a gaff would be injurous.
People in the Administration are still mad at Mayfield because of the perception in the media that they didn't take his Hurricane Katrina warnings seriously enough. Mayfield came off as the hero, and I think more than a few career bureaucrats still want to settle the score with him however they can - even over something as stupid as this.
Nice fish.
That was before my time, but I do remember it was pretty much the same in the 70's. The 80's brought great change, which caused me to leave the fishery. I tried to go back to it and found it to be so overmanaged and overregulated that it just about took a law degree to stay legal. I gave up in disgust and now live in Missouri. Don't miss it at all, except sometimes I wish I had a bag of oysters to go with a couple of cold beers.
Was he in international waters when the fish was caught?
“I love to fish, but I haven’t done any in a long time. I don’t know the rules,’’ Mayfield said. “Nobody on that boat knew the rules.’’
Whatever happened to "ignorance of the law is no excuse"?
"I wish I had a bag of oysters to go with a couple of cold beers."
I've got my order in for a 1/2 bushel to pick up on Wednesday.
They didn't use a gaff. I've used a gaff when going for blues. But I wasn't releasing those.
How soon until the ACLU is representing the fish and his 'civil rights'??
Don't laugh, the animal rights kooks have been trying to push that with their animal laws.
When I lived there you didn't even need a hunting license unless you were over 17. You could hunt or fish most anywhere because it wasn't all built up and full of sweaty people in funny shirts.
I even shot one of those Florida panthers once. I hear there isn't many left now?
Yooper or Troll?
Paella? Can you imagine the sushi! Start the rice now! Guess you can't have an Iron Chef Goliath Grouper Battle...
Troll. But I'll betcha we are the only two here that know what ya mean by that...lol
"Doing so can damage a protective slime the covers the fish."
Sounds like scratching the paint on a M-1 Abrams tank.
the turn-around is that there are so many rules now that we are all ignorant, and violate them all of the time in some way or another. this is to some degree selective enforcement, though publishing the photo doesn't help.
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