He was found with 41 undersized lobsters, then urinated in a bucket. That means jail
A Key West commercial fisherman was sentenced to 90 days in jail and lost his ability to earn a living on the water for six months after he admitted to committing dozens of lobster violations in 2017.
Mario Luis Morales, 67, pleaded guilty to 41 counts of possession of undersized lobster, plus one count each of interfering with a conservation officer, possession of wrung lobster tail on the water and having an improperly marked stone crab trap.
While being led off his boat by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers in 2017, Morales also urinated into a bucket and poured it into the ocean.
He was then cited for discharging raw sewage into the water.
Monroe County Judge Peary Fowler sentenced Morales on Dec. 4 at the county courthouse in Key West.
Fowler also ordered Morales to pay a $1,000 fine, $463 in court costs and put $500 into the FWC’s Marine Resources Conservation Trust Fund, along with completing 50 hours of community service.
Fowler suspended his Saltwater Products License for six months.
At about 12:25 p.m. Nov. 11, 2017, FWC officers on marine patrol in the Lakes passage, which is in the Gulf of Mexico, and spotted a commercial boat pulling stone crab traps, according to the citation filed in court.
As they approached, the officers saw a man dumping a bucket of wrung lobster tails into the water.
The officers continued their inspection of the boat and spotted an orange five-gallon bucket inside the engine compartment.
One officer said he had to pry open a hatch with a hammer he found onboard to get to the bucket, which was ice cold and filled with 41 wrung lobster tails.
Morales was taken to jail.
A lobster’s tail cannot be wrung, or separated, from its body while the harvester is on the water. Lobsters must be brought back to land in whole condition.
When the tail is separated from the body on land, it must be longer than 5 1/2 inches.
Assistant State Attorney Nick Trovato handled the case.
This story was originally published December 11, 2019 at 7:02 AM with the headline "He was found with 41 undersized lobsters, then urinated in a bucket. That means jail."
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