Two commercial fishermen — brothers from Homestead — with a history of fisheries violations were nabbed by state wildlife officers Sunday afternoon poaching lobster in the Card Sound Lobster Sanctuary.
And after this incident, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission may keep their boat, said FWC spokesman Bobby Dube.
The case began on Saturday when officers spotted the 17-foot bully net-style boat suspiciously in deep water, said FWC Capt. David Dipre. That spurred an undercover investigation, Dube said.
On Sunday, officers watched the boat near Little Angelfish Creek in North Key Largo and saw Javier Morales-Molina, 39, diving in the water, Dube said. His brother, Alfredo Morales-Molina, 41, was in the boat. Those officers called for a marked patrol boat to stop the brothers, Dube said.