02-01-2007, 11:55 AM
Contact: Dani Moschella (772) 215-9459
After an extensive investigation, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has charged the former boat captain of a Collier County seafood restaurant with stealing more than 1,000 stone crab traps from dozens of commercial fishermen in Collier and Monroe counties.
Joseph Patrick Marcellino, a former employee of City Seafood in Everglades City, was charged with one count of unlawful constructive possession of more than three licensed saltwater fisheries traps registered with the FWC in the name of another person, firm, corporation or association, and 24 counts of unlawfully molesting a stone crab trap, line or buoy, without the permission of the license holder. Both are third-degree felonies.
Marcellino, date of birth April 28, 1965, was arrested in North Carolina last week and is awaiting extradition to Florida to face the charges.
“This is a reprehensible crime against commercial fishermen, who were already suffering from a colossal blow dealt by hurricanes. And it is a crime against the community itself, which benefits from a thriving stone crab trap industry,” FWC Capt. Jayson Horadam said. “This may be the worst case of trap theft ever to impact the stone crab industry.”
In October 2005, Hurricane Wilma swept through the Gulf of Mexico, scattering thousands of traps and devastating the commercial stone crab industry. As a result of the storm, commercial fishermen spent countless hours scouring fishing grounds to recover traps that had been lost, resulting in high fuel and labor costs and lost crabbing time. It was then, FWC investigators believe, that Marcellino took advantage of the situation by taking the traps of other fishermen from the water, cutting off their buoys and removing their stone crab trap tags. He then replaced the required identifying information with tags and buoys issued to City Seafood. However, the original fishermen’s stone crab endorsement numbers were permanently stamped in each trap, enabling investigators to identify owners.
According to commercial stone crab regulations, each commercial fisherman is issued a stone crab endorsement number by the FWC in order to identify to whom the traps belong. Each trap must have the same number on the buoy, the trap tag and the trap itself.
Over the course of the investigation, which began in April 2006, FWC investigators recovered and inspected approximately 3,200 traps. More than 1,000 of them were stolen. Several hundred others were illegally fished, as the lawful owner could not be readily identified. Four dozen commercial stone crab fishermen were identified as victims.
The investigation is still in progress.
The FWC conducted this investigation in cooperation with the Collier County State Attorney’s Office, the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, the Monroe and Collier County Commercial Fishermen’s Association, the Organized Fishermen of Florida and the North Carolina Marine Patrol. [left] [/left][/url]
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After an extensive investigation, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has charged the former boat captain of a Collier County seafood restaurant with stealing more than 1,000 stone crab traps from dozens of commercial fishermen in Collier and Monroe counties.
Joseph Patrick Marcellino, a former employee of City Seafood in Everglades City, was charged with one count of unlawful constructive possession of more than three licensed saltwater fisheries traps registered with the FWC in the name of another person, firm, corporation or association, and 24 counts of unlawfully molesting a stone crab trap, line or buoy, without the permission of the license holder. Both are third-degree felonies.
Marcellino, date of birth April 28, 1965, was arrested in North Carolina last week and is awaiting extradition to Florida to face the charges.
“This is a reprehensible crime against commercial fishermen, who were already suffering from a colossal blow dealt by hurricanes. And it is a crime against the community itself, which benefits from a thriving stone crab trap industry,” FWC Capt. Jayson Horadam said. “This may be the worst case of trap theft ever to impact the stone crab industry.”
In October 2005, Hurricane Wilma swept through the Gulf of Mexico, scattering thousands of traps and devastating the commercial stone crab industry. As a result of the storm, commercial fishermen spent countless hours scouring fishing grounds to recover traps that had been lost, resulting in high fuel and labor costs and lost crabbing time. It was then, FWC investigators believe, that Marcellino took advantage of the situation by taking the traps of other fishermen from the water, cutting off their buoys and removing their stone crab trap tags. He then replaced the required identifying information with tags and buoys issued to City Seafood. However, the original fishermen’s stone crab endorsement numbers were permanently stamped in each trap, enabling investigators to identify owners.
According to commercial stone crab regulations, each commercial fisherman is issued a stone crab endorsement number by the FWC in order to identify to whom the traps belong. Each trap must have the same number on the buoy, the trap tag and the trap itself.
Over the course of the investigation, which began in April 2006, FWC investigators recovered and inspected approximately 3,200 traps. More than 1,000 of them were stolen. Several hundred others were illegally fished, as the lawful owner could not be readily identified. Four dozen commercial stone crab fishermen were identified as victims.
The investigation is still in progress.
The FWC conducted this investigation in cooperation with the Collier County State Attorney’s Office, the Monroe County State Attorney’s Office, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, the Monroe and Collier County Commercial Fishermen’s Association, the Organized Fishermen of Florida and the North Carolina Marine Patrol. [left] [/left][/url]
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