Zane H. Fennelly, a former captain of a Jacksonville, Florida-based commercial fishing vessel, was sent to four months in prison and one year supervised release. He was charged of disposing and attempting to destroy three plastic bags containing spiny lobster tails upon the approach of U.S. Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers on July 21, 2006.
It was happened in 2006 when Fennelly was the captain of the vessel that was located approximately 15 nautical miles off the coast of St. Augustine, Fla., within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the United States, when the U.S. Coast Guard’s Cutter Kingfisher located the fishing vessel. After noticing the officers approaching on a small boat Fennelly abruptly turned the vessel and threw the three bags full of spiny lobster tails overboard.
The incident happened at the time when the fishing season was closed to protect the lobsters during their reproductive stages. And as per the Magnuson-Stevens Act possession of any spiny lobster is prohibited in or from the EEZ. But Fennelly has harvested the 45 lobsters that were subsequently retrieved from the ocean within the plastic bags by U.S. Coast Guard personnel aboard the Cutter Kingfisher on July 21, 2006. Upon examination it was found that the captain has clipped the tails in an attempt to hide the presence of eggs.
