After receiving permission from the boat owner to check the coolers aboard the boat, the officer found 228 striped bass under the legal minimum of 18 inches. The officer also found about 30 pounds of white perch in the coolers. None of the four people on the boat had a fishing license.
Jose R. Amaya Chicas, 34, was fined $2,000 and given probation before judgment.
He is the second of the four men ticketed by Maryland Natural Resources Police officers for illegal fishing on Aug. 31.
An NRP officer was on patrol at Sandy Point State Park at 1:30 a.m., when he stopped a 14-foot recreational vessel returning to the marina.
After receiving permission from the boat owner to check the coolers aboard the boat, the officer found 228 striped bass under the legal minimum of 18 inches. The officer also found about 30 pounds of white perch in the coolers. None of the four people on the boat had a fishing license.
Amaya Chicas already pleaded guilty on Dec. 9 to fishing without a Chesapeake Bay license and was fined $75.
The owner of the boat, Hervin O. Nunez-Aleman, 34, of Silver Spring pleaded guilty last month to a single violation. He was given probation before judgment and fined $2,000.
The district courts in Anne Arundel County participate in a program that highlights natural resources cases – fishing, hunting, boating and tree expert violations – which are heard on a specific day each month in the region where they occurred.
Citizens who see conservation violations, maritime emergencies or other law enforcement issues on the Chesapeake Bay or the State’s public lands are urged to call 800-628-9944.
