Commercial Fishing

Wanted: Fast stone-crab eaters in the Florida Keys

The much-anticipated opening of Florida’s stone crab season takes place Oct. 15 but the 2011-12 season opening is going to be followed by a tasty test of crab-consuming capacity.

The inaugural Stone Crab Eating Contest, a challenge for amateur eaters, is set for Oct. 22 beginning at 1 p.m. at Keys Fisheries Market & Marina, off U.S. 1 at 35th Street bayside, Marathon.

Entrants must register and be present by noon the day of the event, and are tasked with cracking and eating 25 stone crab claws, picking them completely clean, in the fastest time. In the event of a tie, those competitors must face off in a 10-claw competition to determine the winner.

Prizes are to be awarded to the top three finishers. The first-place winner is to receive a two-night lodging package at Key West’s Doubletree Grand Key Resort featuring champagne, dinner for two and a sunset cruise on a tall ship or catamaran.

The second-place crab consumer earns a Swim with the Dolphins package at the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key, while the third-place finisher wins a $50 Keys Fisheries gift certificate.

The entry fee is $25 per contestant, and you must be at least 18. The contest is limited to 50 participants. Among the rules:

No professional eaters — amateurs only.
Contestants will be allowed to drink water during the competition.
If a contestant throws up, he or she is automatically disqualified.
Grounds for disqualification include:

Not disclosing risks that could jeopardize the contestant’s health or well-being.
Being under the influence of any substance.
Your appearance and/or clothing is deemed inappropriate (dress is Keys attire).
Starting prior to the start signal.
Any food in a competitor’s mouth at the final whistle counts toward the final tally if the competitor chews and swallows that portion of the competitive food. But competitors may not stuff food into their mouth in the final seconds of the contest to increase their total. Judges have the discretion to impose penalties on those who do.

Stone crabs are considered by many to be the finest Florida seafood for their succulent claw meat. In addition, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, they are the state’s only renewable seafood resource. Legal-size claws are harvested between Oct. 15 and May 15 each year, and the crab’s body is returned to the water to generate new claws.

To register for the contest, go to www.keysfisheries.com.

Key Largo Lobster Mobsters Convicted

By GARY PHILLIPS
KeysNews.com
Saturday, June 12, 201

Nearly nine months to the day after being accused of molesting a commercial lobster trap, two Key Largo men were convicted on third-degree felony charges.

Ruben Barbuscio, 62, and Daniel Peralta, 53, were led in handcuffs from a Plantation Key courtroom after Monroe County Circuit Court Judge Luis Garcia found them guilty on Thursday. The pair waived their right to a jury trial and opted to have their case heard by Garcia.

Their crime occurred on Sept. 11, when commercial fisherman Abilio Gil and his stepson, Yardiel Penton, videotaped Barbuscio and Peralta pulling a lobster trap belonging to commercial fisherman Dana Pettit onto Barbuscio’s boat between Rodriguez Key and Tavernier Creek.

In announcing his ruling, Garcia said the poor-quality video was of little value as evidence, but it did contain Gil’s spoken description of the defendants’ action. Gil was watching through binoculars while Penton operated the camcorder. Garcia said the eyewitness account was credible and weighed heavily in his decision.

Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne also provided photos of the trap, buoy and rope, and had the trap brought into the courtroom. She said the photos taken the day of the incident clearly show the rope and trap had been recently handled, as silt and marine growth on the items had been disturbed.

A sentencing hearing is set for June 29.

Key West Captain Cited With Illegal Possession of 60 Stone Crab Claws

The state wildlife agency confiscated 60 out-of-season stone crab claws from a Key West boat coming home at 5:15 p.m. Wednesday, says the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

The commercial fisherman and captain of the Maru was cited with illegal possession of the claws and interference with an FWC officer, both misdemeanors. He was issued a notice to appear in court.

The Maru was south of Key West, returning to port, when the captain apparently saw FWC Lt. Roy Payne approaching and made a sharp turn, speeding up, as the crew dumped overboard white trash bags of the claws.

The captain at first denied the crime, but after the officer found similar trash bags aboard, he and his mate allegedly admitted to it and wrote out confessions.

Lobster Poaching Convictions of Father & Son Cavagnaros Tossed on a Technicality

A former Upper Keys elected official and his son, both commercial fishermen convicted of lobster trap molestation, should get a new trial, an appellate court has ruled.

Michael Cavagnaro Sr. and his namesake son had their convictions overturned by the 3rd District Court of Appeal, according to a six-page opinion the court released Wednesday.

The court found that Monroe County circuit Judge Luis Garcia failed to explain “reasonable doubt” to jurors before their deliberations in the June 2010 trial. The jurors should have been given the Florida Standard Jury Instruction (Criminal) 3.7, wrote an appellate judge. The instructions explain reasonable doubt, burden of proof and other legal definitions.

“This is not a case in which a trial judge inadvertently skips an instruction while reading the assembled instructions,” the ruling states. “Trial counsel for the state and the defendants simply did not include such an instruction in the compilation for the jury charge.”

Prosecutors must prove a person’s guilt to jurors beyond a reasonable doubt in order to convict someone in a criminal case.

The 3rd DCA found that the error “reaches down into the validity of the trial itself,” and that it was a “fundamental error requiring reversal.”

Lawyers with the Attorney General’s Office can ask the 3rd DCA for a rehearing within 10 days and before that hearing the 3rd DCA opinion published Wednesday is not considered final.

That office handles criminal appeals that arise from the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office.

The error is major because the evidence presented in trial was circumstantial and the limited eyewitness testimony was not conclusive, according to the ruling.

“One of those witnesses admitted that he had a pre-existing dislike for one of the defendants and a pre-existing friendship with the state wildlife official to whom he reported the alleged crimes,” wrote 3rd DCA Judge Vance E. Salter. “The global positioning system (GPS) tracking evidence pertaining to the defendants’ boat demonstrated, according to the defendants’ expert, only that the boat’s track came no closer than 196 feet from the lobster traps at issue in the case. The state’s GPS witness did not rebut that analysis. Under the ‘totality of the record,’ we conclude that a fundamental error in the jury instructions has been shown.”

Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne prosecuted the Cavagnaros and will prosecute them again should the appellate ruling stand, she said. Dunne has taken a lead role in Monroe County prosecution of fishery violations and has spent much of the last two months lobbying Florida lawmakers in Tallahassee for tougher penalties against convicted poachers.

“This is unfortunate, but the facts remain the same,” Dunne said. “I’m ready, willing and able to retry this case.”

Marathon-based attorney Bill Heffernan represented both men at trial, but their appeal was handled by longtime appellate attorney Joel Hirschhorn of Miami.

“They [3rd DCA] got it right, 100 percent,” Hirschhorn said. “The first time I read the jury instructions, I thought the court reporter dropped something or that we were missing a page. I couldn’t believe that the standard jury instruction was not given. This is the first case I’ve seen in 44 years that the standard instruction was not given.”

In August 2010, Garcia sentenced Cavagnaro Sr. and his son to nine months and six months, respectively, in county jail. He also ordered each Cavagnaro to pay $5,000 to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for its investigative costs and $8,392 to the State Attorney’s Office for its prosecution costs. Father and son were also ordered to pay $5,000 and $2,500 fines, respectively, to the Marine Resource Trust Fund.

Garcia allowed both to stay out of jail under the surveillance of the Department of Corrections pending their appeal, Heffernan said. He also delayed, or stayed in legal parlance, their fines, also pending their appeal.

Both men, however, lost their commercial fishing licenses. The appeal means they may be able to reapply for those licenses, pending the outcome of future court proceedings, Heffernan said.

Should there be a second trial, they will be represented by Hirschhorn. The attorney said both men passed polygraph tests, which were not presented at trial.

“I’m defending them now and it’s going to be a different ball game,” Hirschhorn said.

The Cavagnaro case became a bellwether for commercial fishermen and environmentalists in the Florida Keys as an example of the changing attitude toward busting and prosecuting lobster poachers.

“It’s certainly unfortunate that this case was overturned on a technicality,” said Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association. “We’re confident that the State Attorney’s Office will prevail in a retrial of this case. Colleen Dunne has become a strong ally within our industry in bringing trap robbing under control.”

The case began on Aug. 25, 2009, when commercial fishermen reported the Cavagnaros to state marine officers, saying a boat they were on was at the site of another commercial fisherman’s trap. They were arrested and charged with one count of trap molesting and one count of theft of a trap and/or its contents. Both are third-degree felonies.

Commercial fishermen in two boats reportedly watched the Cavagnaros pulling traps that allegedly didn’t belong to them near Molasses Reef, said Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokesman Bobby Dube.

While one boat chased the Cavagnaros, the other stayed behind, picked up a trap they had left, and called state wildlife officers.

Cavagnaro Sr. was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and in the 1970s moved to Florida and worked as a firefighter. He had been a Key Largo Fire-EMS District board member since 2005, until Gov. Charlie Crist suspended him on Nov. 9, 2009, after his arrest. He did not file for re-election to the board in 2010 after his conviction. The district’s website said he owned a commercial fishing business.

alinhardt@keysnews.com

Lobster Mobster Harry Bethel Jr Found Guilty

BY ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff
alinhardt@keysnews.com

It took a jury four hours Friday to find Harry Bethel Jr. and his two mates guilty of pulling another fisherman’s lobster traps three years ago.

Bethel Jr., 48, and co-defendants Shamus Davis, 32, and Lawrence Pinder, 54, were found guilty of one count of trap molestation, a third-degree felony with a maximum punishment of five years in prison. Each is scheduled to be sentenced before circuit Judge David Audlin on June 28.

Audlin granted Assistant State Attorney Val Winter’s request that fishing licenses for each man be revoked pending sentencing. Each could have their licenses permanently revoked at that time, Winter said. None of the defendants was taken into custody, as Audlin did not find them to be a threat to the community, Winter said. Each initially was charged with two counts of trap molestation. Jurors found them guilty of pulling only one of the two traps the state argued they molested while fishing aboard Bethel Jr.’s crawfish vessel, the Kayla Renee II, near Sugarloaf Key in 2007.

“They found them guilty on the trap that [a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC)] pilot had under constant surveillance,” Winter said. Two FWC officers responded to the Kayla Renee II under the direction of FWC pilot Lt. John Murphy, according to court testimony. Much of the state’s case centered on Murphy’s testimony of what he saw while on patrol about 2,000 to 3,000 feet in the air.

Defense attorney Manny Garcia, who is representing Bethel, and Assistant Public Defender Christopher Bridger, assigned to the other two defendants, hammered away in their closing arguments Friday at what Murphy was able to see from that height. It was the second trial in the case, as prosecutors failed to convince a jury in January that the fishermen had molested any traps. Audlin declared a mistrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict in the first trial.

In an unrelated arson case, Bethel Jr. has not accepted a plea agreement offered by prosecutors. Winter declined to comment on the specifics of the offer until it has been legally accepted or rejected in court and made public. That charge carries a maximum of 35 years in prison and $5,000 in fines if Bethel is found guilty. Prosecutors allege he set fire to a thatched-roof tiki hut at the home of his cousin and business partner, with whom he was arguing, in September 2007.

Bethel is the son of former Key West City Commissioner Harry Bethel Sr. and current Key West Bight Board chairman.

Federal Quotas for Stone Crabs Ends

BY TIMOTHY O’HARA Citizen Staff tohara@keysnews.com

Annual catch limits for commercially harvested fish have been a controversial issue bitterly opposed by local commercial fishermen. They soon will not have to worry about federally imposed quotas, however, for one popular species caught off the Florida Keys — stone crab.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) board on Thursday approved rules that extend its stone crab management to federal waters beyond state waters. The rule amendments are expected to take effect Aug. 31.

The news was welcomed by local commercial fishermen and the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association, as it means stone crab would not be subject to federal quotas.

“The state of Florida does a wonderful job managing wildlife,” association President Bill Kelly said. “We are very comfortable with the FWC having sole jurisdiction.”

Kelly argued the move would remove the fishery from the jurisdiction of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which he said places unnecessary quotas on fishermen and arbitrarily closes fishing seasons.

Stone crab is an important fishery in the Keys, with Monroe County fishermen accounting for the bulk of the annual harvest, roughly 3.5 million pounds, Kelly said.

Currently, the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council has a federal fishery management plan in place for stone crabs. The council recently voted to recommend the repeal of this plan to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Service.

The NOAA secretary has not signed off on it yet, but is expected to soon. At that time, the final rule likely will be published in late August or early September. It probably will be in effect before the fishing season starts Oct. 15, said Carrie Simmons, a fishery biologist with the Gulf Council.

NOAA Fisheries Service intends to repeal the federal stone crab fishery management plan before the season opens.

The stone crab fishery is centered in Florida and the FWC already plays a leading role in stone crab stock assessments and management. Most of the stone crab fishery occurs in state waters off Florida, and existing federal rules for stone crabs are the same as the FWC’s rules.

More Lobster Mobsters Sentenced to Prison

By ADAM LINHARDT Citizen Staff

Two Bay Point men were sentenced to a year in prison on charges that they conspired to poach lobster, a judge ruled Monday, closing the last chapter on two illegal lobster harvesting cases that snared eight people.

John Buckheim, 23, and Nick Demauro, 24, both apologized to federal Judge James Lawrence King, their friends, family and wildlife officers.

“I acknowledge and take full responsibility for what I did,” Buckheim said. “I was young and stupid and I’m not implying that I’m old or wise now, only that I’m heading in the right direction. … I’m sorry for this major mistake and you won’t find me in this position again.”

Demauro told the judge he had “taken everything for granted.”

Both men pleaded guilty in October to harvesting lobsters by diving on illegal artificial habitats, called casitas, primarily in the Content Keys area north of Big Pine Key, from July 2008 through October 2008, according to court documents.

The judge granted U.S. Attorney Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald’s request to delay their prison sentence 100 days so both men can continue their work removing as many as 600 casitas from Florida Keys waters. The judge ordered both to surrender to corrections officials on May 12.

The judge also allowed both men to resume legal commercial fishing immediately upon their release from prison, despite the prosecutor’s recommendation that both be prohibited during the two years of supervision that is to follow their release.

Miami defense attorneys Bruce Alter and Steven Potolsky urged the judge to consider the defendants’ ages, their clean criminal histories and their desire to make amends as mitigating factors at sentencing, but the prosecutor was unmoved, painting the men as astute fishermen who knew the risks involved.

“These were not youths who stumbled into this,” the prosecutor told the judge, describing taped conversations between the two men, and the hundreds of casitas they fished.

Buckheim and Demauro worked for David and Denise Dreifort of Cudjoe Key at one time. The latter were sentenced in July for spearheading a large lobster poaching ring that involved four other people, in a separate but related case. David Dreifort was sentenced to 2¬½ years in prison in July. His wife was sentenced to seven months in prison. Prosecutors found thousands of lobsters at one of their homes on Lookdown Lane last year.

Buckheim and Demauro began their own illegal operation after their stint with the Dreiforts, and they sold lobster to a Stock Island seafood company in 32 separate incidents for a total of $45,974, records say. The company has not been charged in the case, the prosecutor said.

Both men were warned by David Dreifort to cease their operation after he was indicted, but they continued, the prosecutor said. Federal agents began visual and electronic surveillance of Buckheim and Demauro during the larger investigation that involved the Dreiforts, reports say.

Both pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement in which prosecutors dropped two charges that could have added at least 10 years to their sentences.

alinhardt@keysnews.com

Another Lobster Mobster Trial Begins

Jury selection began Monday and open arguments are expected today in the lobster trap molesting trial of three Key West residents. Harry Bethel Jr. faces two felony counts of lobster trap molesting for allegedly pulling fishermens traps near Mayland Shoal in the Atlantic Ocean off Sugarloaf Key in January 2008. Bethel, Lawrence Pinder, 59, and M. Shamus Davis, 30, rejected a plea agreement that called for a year in prison.Bethel is the namesake of a former Key West city commissioner and current Key West Bight Board chairman.

via Mile Markers | KeysNews.com.

Adios Lobster Casitas & Lobster Mobsters

Restorative justice may include casita removalOperation Freezer Burn, a multiyear investigation by state and federal law enforcement agencies, took down two of the most legendary lobster poachers in the Florida Keys, Dave Dreifort, and his wife, Denise. Sentenced to 30 months and seven months respectively, the couple also was ordered to forfeit more than $1 million in property.

In addition to the Dreiforts, the investigation secured four other convictions with sentences ranging from 10 months in prison to a year on parole.A subsequent investigation, dubbed Frost Bite, successfully nabbed two more men who had worked with the Dreiforts in the past, John Buckheim and Nick Demauro, both 23 years old. Each of these men has pleaded guilty and now await their sentences.In the latter case, we have seen something a bit different. Buckheim and Demauro have taken it upon themselves to start undoing some of the harm they have done.In addition to poaching lobsters, much of the case made by the government revolved around illegal lobster habitats, or “casitas.”

These are man-made structures — often old oil drums or discarded appliances — intended to attract lobsters so they can be easily, and illegally, harvested.Tens of thousands of these casitas scattered throughout Florida Keys waters create what many experts consider an ecological disaster, disrupting natural migration patterns and tearing up the sea floor. Removal of the artificial lobster habitats is a major priority for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, but hiring commercial salvors for the job is very expensive.While awaiting their sentencing, Buckheim and Demauro, with the permission of sanctuary officials, have been removing hundreds of the illegally placed casitas from the Gulf of Mexico.

Their motivation is simple: to show they have taken responsibility for their actions and are helping repair the harm they and others have done. And, of course, they hope to curry favor with the judge who will be handing down their sentences.In legal circles, this behavior is referred to as restorative justice.These young men are far from role models, and they certainly should experience consequences for breaking the law. But we cannot help but note that their pre-emptive corrective action contributes to a sense that justice has been better served in this case than in others where the criminals are serving jail time.The debris littering the ocean floor must be removed. It can be done by contractors at considerable taxpayer expense or it can be done at little to no cost by Buckheim and Demauro. We hope the court considers this when considering what sentence best fits the crime — and the public good.–

The Citizen

via Editorial | KeysNews.com.

More Lower Keys Lobster Mobsters Arrested

Federal authorities arrested two Lower Keys commercial lobster divers Friday on charges of illegally harvesting more than 1,000 pounds of lobster worth at least $17,000.

John Buckheim and Nick Demauro, of 79 Palm Drive in the Saddlebunch Keys, were arrested by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration law enforcement agents. The pair are accused of sinking a boat to create an artificial habitat, known as a casita, south of Sammy’s Creek Bridge on Sugarloaf Key on Oct. 29, 2008, according to a federal indictment.

Prosecutors allege the poaching began in 2008 and continued into this year, reports say.

Both men are scheduled to appear in a Miami courthouse today.

The arrest comes a week before the start of the commercial lobster season.