Senate committee recommends Barreto as FWC chair despite environmental, boat crash concerns
A Florida Senate committee Monday voted overwhelmingly to reappoint a Coral Gables developer as Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission chair despite a flood of emails and in-person objections citing environmental concerns and the agency’s investigation of a boat crash that killed a 17-year-old Miami girl.
Senators on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee listened to the objections and then voted 8-1 to recommend Rodney Barreto’s reappointment to the chair by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Senators had asked Barreto to appear before the committee, saying they were “overwhelmed” with emails.
If the full Senate confirms him, Barreto, a developer, lobbyist and co-chair of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Miami Host Committee, would serve until January 2029. The FWC chair, an unpaid position, oversees the state agency whose law enforcement officers patrol Florida’s waterways.
Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, the lone dissenting vote, had reservations about Barreto’s development background.
“I’m not sure that the FWC’s mission of protecting wildlife is well-served with heavy representation from development interests,” Smith told the Miami Herald. “That concern will weigh heavily on my decision on whether to confirm his appointment.”
Smith’s concerns were echoed by four people who objected to Barreto at the committee hearing.
Barreto’s development career raises issues
Lesley Blackner, a West Palm Beach environmental attorney, argued before the Tallahassee committee that FWC commissioners should have a background in science and conservation.
“I’ve never seen anyone appointed to the board who wasn’t a developer. And, yet the point of the FWC is conservation,” said Blackner. ”We know that developers are in the business of making money. That’s what Mr. Barreto said today to this committee.”
Several of the email authors noted they were supporting a bill proposed by Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orange County Democrat, that would require FWC appointments to have scientific expertise.
Barreto, 67, defended his tenure as FWC chair, a position he has held for more than 20 years. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush first appointed him in 2004, followed by appointments by Gov. Charlie Crist and DeSantis, who appointed him in 2019 and then reappointed him in 2024. The Senate has to confirm the appointments.
“I have no idea why they’re doing it,” said Barreto, chairman and CEO of the Gables-based Barreto Group, said of those who were emailing their objections. “...We do a lot of great work for a lot of great Floridians. We opened up a lot more opportunities for people to use the wildlife management areas and the waterways.”
The lack of scientific credentials wasn’t the only issue that Barreto faced.
FWC’s Pino investigation questioned
One emailer claimed Barreto used his position as FWC chair to influence the agency’s investigation of the 2022 boat crash that killed a 17-year-student at Our Lady of Lourdes Academy and brain damaged her classmate.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, using the FWC investigative report, initially charged George Pino, a prominent Doral real estate broker who slammed his 29-foot Robalo into a concrete channel marker in Biscayne Bay over the 2022 Labor Day weekend, with only three careless boating misdemeanors.
Luciana ‘Lucy’ Fernandez, 17, was killed in the crash while her Lourdes classmate, 17-year-old Katerina ‘Katy’ Puig, was severely brain injured. Pino and his wife were taking their daughter and 11 of her teenage friends on an outing for their daughter’s birthday.
READ MORE: How investigators, prosecutors bungled probe into boat crash that killed teen girl
Prosecutors reevaluated the case last fall after a new witness came forward. Matthew Smiley, a Miami-Dade Fire Rescue firefighter who was among the first on the crash scene, told prosecutors that Pino appeared intoxicated when he pulled him out of the water. He spoke to prosecutors after reading a series of articles in the Herald detailing how boaters who were immediately on the scene after the crash were never contacted by state investigators.
Barreto previously told the Herald the agency’s investigators on the scene didn’t believe Pino was impaired and didn’t have probable cause to seek a warrant to compel Pino to take the test. A Miami Herald investigation revealed that investigators had probable cause, according to best practices in the FWC’s and Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office’s training manuals, which list significant injuries and deaths as probable cause for a blood draw.
On Oct. 31, prosecutors charged Pino with felony vessel homicide. If convicted, Pino could face up to 15 years behind bars and a $10,000 fine. He has pleaded not guilty, and his attorney, Howard Srebnick, has maintained that the boat crash was an accident, not a crime.
“Rodney and they FWC have denied Pino received special treatment despite the case being handled much differently than other comparable accidents with less well-connected perpetrators,” said the emailer, who did not disclose their name. “I will leave you to ponder all of this with the below photo.”
The photo attached in the email shows Barreto and Pino together at a 2017 Ronald McDonald House fundraiser in Pinecrest.
This story was originally published April 1, 2025 at 10:40 AM.
