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.’’
Prosecute the SOB in NOAA who's wasting tax dollars on this stupid "investigation".
I've caught a few of those and they were called jewfish when the world was sane. Suddenly that is a "Goliath Grouper". Screw the P.C. police, it is still a jewfish to me.
Jeeezzsus! Can you imagine the paella this thing would make?
Ah, the 'ol "No controlling legal authority" defense, I see.
and also covers the Clintons
If there is a violation of the possession limits on board a vessel carrying more than one person, the violation shall be deemed to have been committed by the owner or operator of the vessel.
The entire story is fishey at best.
Exactly. I've gutted and packed a many a grouper and it is just another fish, albeit sometimes a bigger one. I fished commercial grouper boats for years.
ping
>>>>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.
How on earth would you get a 200lb fish off the hook without bringing it onto the boat???
They are 'cut free' ... the hook(s) are left in and the line cut close to the hook eye.
Say it was outside the 12 mile limit and there truly is no controlling legal authority.
I only cut my hooks if the fish swallows it.
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