Recreational fishermen also nabbed in closed zone.
The owner of the Miss Rosa Marie and the vessel’s operator, Brent Zirlott Jr., have until January 17 to contest a $30,000 fine and 45-day permit sanction for using a bottom trawl to fish for rock shrimp within the Oculina Bank Habitat Area of Particular Concern. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) levied the penalties after the agency’s satellite-based monitoring system detected the vessel within the closed area.
The U.S. Coast Guard from the Port Canaveral station boarded the vessel along with a NOAA fisheries agent to conduct the investigation.
NOAA also issued a $5,000 fine against recreational fishers David and Kendra Moreau of Montverde for fishing for and retaining snapper and grouper within the Experimental Closed Area in the same zone. Florida Fish and Wildlife officers aboard the patrol vessel C.T.Randall further cited the Moreaus for possession of undersized snapper and grouper. They have requested a hearing before a federal administrative law judge.
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