Captain Dave Dipre of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM yesterday morning to talk about what’s been happening on the waters.
With lobster mini season in the rearview mirror, law enforcement has been happy with the event this year.
Captain Dipre said, “It was actually phenomenal. Compared to years past it was much, much slower. I think everybody’s happy about that. I think the sheriff’s office, we all noticed probably that the traffic was slower, the volume of people was lower. The weather certainly helped us out on mini season, there were not many people out there, the visibility was greatly reduced by the wind and the rain. People had a hard time finding the lobster. So I think the overall catch was greatly reduced. As far as a conservation mini season, it was a pretty good weekend.”
There were 541 vessel stops between the FWC and Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. There were no physical arrests, but two mandatory notices to appear in court, citations for wildlife violations, possession of undersized lobster and a stone crab out of season.
The arrest numbers are lower than they have been in the past – maybe people are starting to get the message of the laws.
Captain Dipre said, “I’d like to think that’s the case. Every year, summertime comes up and we go through, let’s say Memorial Day or Fourth of July, for example, and when we noticed the number of boating under the influence cases are down or DUI cases are down, I kind of like to pat us on the back a little bit and say, between FWC, MCSO, Coast Guard, Highway Patrol, all of us being out there, maybe we’re having an effect, and people are realizing that in Monroe County, it’s a terrible place to drive drunk or to run a boat while intoxicated. I don’t think it’s a lack of patrols, I think it’s maybe some effective enforcement. I think the same goes for conservation down here when we’re talking about mini season, everybody knows that the Coast Guard is out there and they’re working with FWC. You’re not just going to get a civil citation from the Coast Guard, you’re going to get a criminal citation from FWC. And the sheriff’s office is out there. They’re working so hard, doing a great job making cases. My FWC guys, they killed it this weekend as far as things on land, where people weren’t taking lobster, they were out making fish cases. One of our fish cases was like 45 undersized Mangrove Snappers, seven undersized yellowtail, all kinds of fish and all of it was illegal.”
With all the information out there, people should know what’s expected of them.
Captain Dipre said, “The thing of it is and we all have a difficult time understanding is how you would not know what the rules are. People still tell us I didn’t know it wasn’t season, or I didn’t know what the rules were. I say you have a smartphone. If you’ve got a smartphone, and you’ve got Google and that smartphone, you can say regulations in the Florida Keys for fishing or fishing regulations in the Keys or FWC or anything and you will come up with that information. It’s easy to find.”
There have been some boating accidents recently.
Captain Dipre said, “We had a few boating accidents but nothing relative to mini season, just some boating incidents. Thanks to all of us being out there if you were going to have a boating accident, that was the time to do it because there’s so much law enforcement on the water they can always assist. I think everything went well. The only very sad situation was the fire that occurred down on Stock Island with the vessel down there, but that was not really directly related to boating. Nor was it related to the mini season itself. The vessel was tied to the dock. It was secured. So it wasn’t even a boating accident. Really just an unfortunate circumstance with a boat. Otherwise, I think it was a good mini season.”
The heat likely affected the mini season this year.
Captain Dipre said, “If it had been in any hotter, we’d have been dying out there.”
Derelict vessels are an ongoing issue.
Captain Dipre said, “People have always been impatient about them, especially come storm season. I understand that nobody wants that boat to wash up and end up in their backyard or up against their house or through their living room or anything like that during a hurricane. So I get it. I know why people want those boats gone. I will tell you though, this year, the FWC in conjunction with Division of Emergency Management has removed hundreds of derelict vessels, hundreds of migrant vessels and hundreds of storm affected battles for Hurricane Ian. So we are removing the vessels. I will admit the process is not as expedited as I would like it to be, but what I asked people to remember is if that was your property and that’s all you owned in the whole world, you have to be a bit understanding and people do have rights. We have got to make sure that we do the investigations and make all the contacts and do everything we can to get those vessels out and to hold those people accountable for it. And that takes some time. So we’re working on it. And it’s getting done.”
Recruitment had been an issue earlier, but things look good for FWC now.
Captain Dipre said, “We’re doing fantastic right now. Last time we had spoken, I just had graduated six people from the Florida Keys Academy and now they have graduated from their field training program and one more week and they’re completely done and on their own as officers in the field. In addition to that I’ve gotten several others that have come down. Now we’ve got the group from out of town on the governor’s detail. So we’re probably plus five positions with the governor’s detail and without the governor’s detail, I’m just down four positions right now. So if you are interested, we have room.”
Remember do not touch the trap lines in the water.
Captain Dipre said, “There are trap lines out on the water, and attached to those trap lines are traps. I have to tell people who may be new to Florida, because there’s a lot of people coming to Florida all the time who are brand new, you may not touch those traps, and you may not touch those buoys. It is a felony offense to bring those traps onto your boat if they don’t belong to you. It’s a felony offense to steal the lobsters out of them if they don’t belong to you. If you are caught doing so, the FWC, the sheriff’s office, we will all take action against you as well, the State Attorney’s Office. We value our commercial fishermen a great deal and that industry is very, very important to the Florida Keys. We intend to protect it and make sure it is watched over well. So I just want to let people know when you see those out there from August 6, that is not an opportunity for you to compensate for your inability to get lobsters on your own. Stay out of those traps.”
A human smuggling case came up recently and if you’re out on the water and see something, say something.
Captain Dipre said, “When you’re on the water, the primary means of communication to many people, surprisingly, is still your VHF radio. If you have an emergency, you can get on the radio and call Coast Guard and they can assist you and they’ll dispatch sheriff’s officer, FWC, whomever to help you out. If you want to report a violation to the FWC it is best to call us at 888-404-3922.”