If you like fish and wildlife content, be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out on future videos. A deputy with the Monroe County Sheriff's Office was on patrol when he observed a vessel with a diver down flag displayed. As he approached, he could see two people in the water with snorkel gear handing a PVC pipe to the vessel's occupants. What? Really? This ain't our fight. Sir, you're still harvesting from a man-made structure, which is a misdemeanor. How so? Now I got you. There's a shark in it. Don't try to get Don't worry. We didn't know we did it. We just found it. >> Of course, nobody knows the laws. We just come out and do whatever we want. I apologize. Sorry, they just caught Do you have any lobster on board? Yes, sir. Folks, can you get in the boat, please? Sure. 6114 vessel stop. 83 Go in. I ought to make you pick it up and take it with you and throw it away. We will if you want us to. I'll do it if you want me to. Actually had a shark in it. There's a shark? Yeah. It wasn't even a lobster. Where's the lobsters at? Right here. Uh-huh. Uh, can you pull those lobsters out, please? You need those? Here you go, man. Shark. Oh, he's fine. Yes. Uh, please sit down, please. Uh, you know, that's fine. Only two. Yeah. We haven't had very good luck. Two two and they're under size. So Wait a minute. They're not under size. We have a Okay. I mean, I did gauge it those lobsters. Uh, well, I don't know what gauge you used, sir, but I can tell you mine. Um, the legal gauge. >> It's in the back of the truck right here. Yeah. Yeah, see it didn't Well, where's your gauge? See it fell. So, that one's illegal. And this one is illegal. What? See this? Look. Still falls over. All right? And look at the play in that. Okay. >> You can check it with your gauge if you want. >> No. All right. Can I have some IDs, please? Who want Why do you need IDs? Yes. Who was harvesting the lobster? Or who wants the ticket? Well, I guess I'll get the ticket if it's my boat. All right. You need everybody's ID? I will, unfortunately. Info on my boat. Okay. Hey, hand me that line, please. >> What do you need? That your line. Yes. Can I ask you a question so I can educate myself a little better? Uh-huh. So, when we come upon pipes, old traps, tires, Right. anything like that, we're not allowed to harvest lobster That's correct. Oh my god. There's a pilings in the water. That's Then everybody here should get a Right. Well, should I start with you guys? Yes. Okay. So, You can start with me. We're not trying to give you our IDs. It's my boat. Uh, I understand. And and look, folks, I Well, it it would it it became about because there was people throwing pipes in the water. Those didn't just show up and grow there. There's people throwing stuff, so it becomes a part of it's illegal dumping. And then just to come out and harvest lobster off of it. So, the Fish and Wildlife Commission created a law that says that you are not allowed to harvest lobster from you know man-made structures. That way it prevented or at least mitigated people from going out and tossing a bunch of garbage in the water. Okay? So, and yes, I am sure people do it. And you know, it's tough for us to come out here and catch them when they're hand in the pot. But when you got the pipe out of the water and you got two people trying to get the stuff All right? So, you can. Correct. Yes, that is allowed as long as long as you're not interfering with navigation. So, yeah, once once you're in the channel, that's obviously interfering with navigation. So, if we could get to you, yes, absolutely, we would stop that in a heartbeat. Yeah, that one's For dad getting a ticket on my birthday. Well, it's a it's actually an arrestable offense. I'm not taking him to jail. But you are going to have to come back to court. So, things just got a little more expensive. Um, I'm being charged with With uh, misdemeanor, which is possession of under size lobsters. Two two under size lobsters. Now, What's that? Well, punishable by jail, but I mean, that's um, more than likely what you'll end up what I have seen in the past, obviously things this big criminal that I just uh, let go. But, um, Appreciate you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's taking me to parole hearing. Taking me to his parole hearing. No. So, listen, most of the time what they do is they give you a fine, maybe put you on little probation, and tell you to done with like a a fish and wildlife class that you can do online, and then goes away. It's not It shouldn't. It shouldn't at all. Hey, look, you know, like I was going to say, it was it's not it's not that you guys are bad people. You just did some bad things. You asked for it. All right. So, again, it's this is not saying that you're guilty or anything. It's just stating that you know what you're you're getting this citation for the for the charge for. Um, this is the court date right here. Cheap restaurant pens. Hold on. There you go. All right. So, this is the courthouse. It's a phone number if you have any questions. And then you'll see the court date. Sometimes it doesn't print. Hold on. August 7th. August 7th. There it is right there. 8:45. All right. So, what I'm going to do, I'm going to have you sign this one. Um, and like I said, let's not I'll Um, so, the prosecutors will always call us, ask us what our you know, if we have any suggestions, if we have any recommendations. What do you think? 365? 364? But For pro the prosecutors. Oh gosh. Trying to get rid of me for a year? 365 is perfect. So, I'm going to you know, I'll obviously I'm going to tell them, you know, you light, you made an honest mistake. I don't you know, Yeah, for me. Try to give him the minimum. That's all you know. He knows what's going on. All right. Yeah, sign right there. And then get a get a hold of an attorney. Yeah. Um, preferably a local one so you don't have he doesn't charge you travel time. So, and then and go from there, you know. So, all right. >> Thank you. All right, sir. Thank you very Folks, we'll see you later. Sorry about that. All right. No worries. I was wrong. I didn't know that. All right. Well, now you know how to measure them, right? All right, guys. See you later. Be safe. No, there was one in the back. Yeah. All right. See you later. In the end, the suspect was charged with possession of under size lobster. He pled no contest and was sentenced to 6 months of probation. He was also ordered to complete a Florida fishing regulations course and 48 hours of community service with the option to buy out at $10 per hour. He was ordered to pay $313 in costs and fines, which he later paid. Approximately 3 months later, his probation was terminated. 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