Undersized lobsters land two Miami-Dade County men in Florida Keys jail, police say
Two Miami-Dade County men accused of violating fisheries laws in the Florida Keys were taken to jail.
Both separate instances involved spiny lobsters, considered a delicacy both locally and abroad.
On Thursday, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Investigator Chris Mattson arrested Oswald Pupo, 44, of Cutler Bay on misdemeanor charges of possessing an undersized lobster and possessing a wrung tail.
Pupo, who could not be reached for comment, was snorkeling for lobsters on the bay side of Tavernier Creek when Mattson conducted a check of his boat, said Officer Jason Rafter, an FWC spokesman. When Mattson looked inside the cooler, he saw the wrung tail and the undersized lobster, Rafter said.
By law, lobsters must be brought to shore whole. To keep a lobster, the carapace — the part that’s not the tail — must be at least three inches long.
Pupo was booked into Monroe County jail around 4 p.m. and released with an order to appear before a judge after 9 p.m.
On Sunday, FWC Officer Jessica Diaz and Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Farr arrested Leosmel Gonzalez, from Homestead, on eight counts of possessing undersized lobster, being over the bag limit for lobster and not having a measuring device while in the water hunting for lobster.
Gonzalez, 37, who also could not be reached for comment, spent Sunday night in jail before being released shortly before noon Monday, according to sheriff’s office online booking information.
According to Rafter, Diaz and Farr watched Gonzalez catch the lobsters while swimming off the Garden Cove area of Key Largo, then give them to a woman on shore, who placed them in a bag. The woman was fishing from shore, and the officers issued her a citation for keeping two undersized snappers, Rafter said.
