He caught a big fish near Key West. But he went to jail after bragging about it

A Key West college student learned a hard lesson about Florida wildlife law this week, police said.

It included a trip to jail.

Joshua David Anyzeski, 18, was jailed Monday after state fish and wildlife officers said he removed a Goliath grouper from the water so he could pose for a photo with it.

He was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of possession of a Goliath grouper, booked into the Stock Island Detention Center and released the same day after posting a $7,500 bond.

The Goliath grouper has been protected in state and federal waters off Florida since 1990. That means possession and harvest of the fish is prohibited.

Anyzeski told police he didn’t kill the Goliath grouper.

He said he caught the 20-pound juvenile Aug. 25 in a lagoon on the campus of the College of the Florida Keys on Stock Island, according to the arrest report by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The lagoon where the Goliath came from is the college’s dive training lagoon. There are signs posted there that indicate fishing is prohibited.

“The lagoon is a classroom space where we teach diving and marine science classes,” said Amber Ernst-Leonard, the college’s spokeswoman. “It is filled with wildlife that we value and respect.”

Anyzeski said he caught the fish, took it out of the water and was “messing around” with it, FWC said. He removed the hook from its mouth before taking the photo.

Police said it’s a problem that Anyzeski took the fish from the water and traveled at least 100 feet to take the photo.

Anyzeski got in trouble after sending the photo of him holding the Goliath grouper to friends in a group text to brag about snagging the fish, according to the report.

One of the recipients went to Fish and Wildlife with the photo.

On Aug. 28, FWC investigators went to Anyzeski’s dorm room at the College of the Florida Keys to speak with him about the photo.

Anyzeski is from Palm Beach Gardens, according to the arrest warrant.

FWC says the law allows for people to snap a picture of their catch as long as that doesn’t get in the way of the release.

“Photographs can be taken but only during the active act of release,” according to the FWC website. “Photographs or any other activities such as measuring the fish should not delay release in any way.”

Large Goliath groupers should be left in the water during release, the agency says.

Asked if Anyzeski is in trouble with the school for the catch, Ernst-Leonard said the college does not comment on student disciplinary cases.

This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 4:04 PM.

Gwen Filosa

Miami Herald

Gwen Filosa covers Key West and the Lower Florida Keys for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald and lives in Key West. She was part of the staff at the New Orleans Times-Picayune that in 2005 won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated from Indiana University.