ANNA MARIA ISLAND -- Beachgoers looking for a Christmas walk on Anna Maria Island a few weeks ago got an unpleasant surprise: thousands of dead, rotting fish littering the 9-mile coastline from top to bottom.

Some initially blamed red tide, but county officials said nearly all the fish were white roe mullet, which points to another culprit: commercial fishermen illegally throwing dead fish back into the Gulf.

"The fishermen who have been here for generations, who do this for a living don't do this. It's the people who are plumbers, landscapers and others who have other jobs and they come here and rape and pillage our waters during the season," said Capt. Kathe Fannon, who owns Captain Kathe and First Mate Puppup Charters and has been in her family's business of commercial fishing for years. "They throw cast nets at the mullet, then check each of them for either red roe or white roe, and they throw the white roe back."

Fannon said there's a huge difference in pricing for red roe, or female mullet, and white roe, the male mullet. Red roe mullet is used to ultimately make caviar and can be sold for around $1.75 per pound, Fannon said. White roe, which is used to make bait for other sea life, is not nearly as valuable.

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