Florida Fish and Wildlife officers arrested two Palm Beach men in possession of a gillnet and illegal fish in the early hours of Feb. 15. The arrests happened on the eastern shoreline of Charlotte Harbor inside the Pirate Harbor canal system.

FWC Officer Daniel Cantu and Charlotte County Deputy W. Weisspsennig Jr. saw the two men actively gill-netting from their vessel at about 1:15 a.m. Gillnets have been prohibited from state waters since the net-limitation amendment in 1994.The officers inspected the 16-foot fiberglass boat and found two snook (out-of-season), one oversize black drum and one goliath grouper (protected species), and approximately 75 to 100 pounds of mullet, sand bream, sheepshead and spadefish.

Cantu and Weisspsennig charged the men with a host of violations including illegal use of a monofilament net, operating a vessel less than 22-feet long in possession of a gillnet, using an unmarked gillnet, possession of goliath grouper, possession of out-of-season and oversize snook, using an illegal method to take snook, and possession of oversize black drum. Arrested were Charles Christopher Mischloney (of Green Acres) and David Allen Tortorice (of West Palm Beach). Officers booked both men into the Charlotte County jail and seized the vessel.

With FWC law enforcement personnel numbers at all-time lows, scofflaws around the state are able to rob citizens of their public trust resources. In this case, astute officers at the right place were able to arrest two of them. At the Florida Sportsman offices, we hear of plenty of infuriating reports from across the state--illegal lobster harvest, gill-netters, illegal harvest by hook-and-line, and spearing of prohibited species, to name a few. By cutting funding (FWC personnel) to those charged with protecting our core economic assets, which includes Florida's exceptional sport fishery, Floridians lose money in the long run. An out-of-whack Florida fishery--inundated with illegal practices unable to be stopped--doesn't look appealing to fishing tourists the state's economy depends on.