Contact: Gabriella B. Ferraro, 772-215-9459 or
Officer Bobby Dube, 305-684-8703
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) investigators arrested six men on Dec. 7 for possessing undersized lobster tails and possessing wrung lobster tails on the water.
Luis Valladares, DOB 8/25/89; Yeniel Gonzalez-Reina, DOB 8/20/86; Alexey L. Pena, DOB 10/12/77; Douglass Valladares, DOB 7/8/75; Yuniel Gonzalez-Moreno, DOB 1/14/85; and Geovani Valladares-Ramirez, DOB 5/6/68, are facing misdemeanor charges. However, because of the number of lobsters involved, the charges are considered "major violations" and carry steeper fines. The men are from Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
On Dec. 7, an FWC investigator patrolling the commercial fishing trap yards in Coco Plum, Marathon, observed the commercial fishing vessel "El Dorado" return to the dock with six men on board. The investigator observed the men unloading bags – suspected to contain lobster tails – onto a pickup truck. The men hid the bags under a tool box in the back of the truck. Once other officers arrived on the scene, the investigator stopped the truck. Upon searching the truck, investigators found two bags containing 249 wrung, undersized lobster tails. The men were taken into custody.
"These 249 juvenile crawfish will never have the chance to normally produce thousands of offspring before they reach their legal harvest size," said FWC Lt. Roy Payne. "The total damage to our state’s fishing resources is immeasurable."
The objects on the tail gate/back of the truck are lobster tails.
