FWC officers inspect 44 oyster boats

Officers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Division of Law Enforcement took two days last month to inspect oyster boats.

FWC said Officers Woody Cook, Carmon Brownell, Steven Cook, Travis Huckeba, John Allen, Chasen Yarborough and Joshua Waite conducted a two-day oyster detail in Apalachicola Bay.  Forty-four vessels were boarded with 108 commercial harvesters being inspected.

Three misdemeanor citations were issued for possession of undersize oysters (the percentage of undersize oysters ranged from 65 to 79 percent).  Four misdemeanor citations were issued for no saltwater products license and no Apalachicola Bay oyster harvest permit. One infraction citation was issued for insufficient boating safety equipment.  Ten written warnings were issued for various resource and boating safety violations.

Officers Woody Cook and Brownell conducted a decoy deer detail in the Tate’s Hell Wildlife Management Area in an effort to enforce the forked antler rule.  At approximately 5:40 p.m., a truck occupied by two hunters approached the area where the decoy was positioned. The truck stopped and one of the hunters exited the vehicle and shot the illegal deer.

The officers then left their positions of concealment and stopped the hunters.  The hunter was issued a misdemeanor citation for attempting to take an illegal deer.  The hunter’s rifle and scope were seized as evidence.