All Crime, All The Time – News and Commentary on the Criminal Class
To support ASMFC’s conservation efforts, NRP officers continued stepped up enforcement in January even though the number of fish and temperatures plummeted. During the first three weeks, officers checked more than 56 recreational anglers (vs. 34 in all of January 2014), 16 watermen (vs. 25) and 59 charter fishermen (vs. 0). They also conducted inspections of eight seafood markets and distributors. Officers logged more than 70 vessel and 100 dockside foot patrol hours.
Sunset slips into night on the Potomac. The sunset transformed into a cross.
Pirate Poachers of the Bay
Over the past year, THE CHESAPEAKE TODAY has been highlighting the arrests of outlaw watermen in the Maryland and Virginia waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.
Readers who have been following these violations and the tracking of the court appearances have been learning that, for most cases, the legal repercussions of these infractions have been very minor or non-existent.
Pirate Poachers of the Chesapeake: New raids on oyster sanctuaries; profiles of culprits reveal they are simply criminals in every respect – The lawless and piratical instincts of outlaw watermen of the Chesapeake Bay may very well be inherited from the vicious and bloodthirsty pirates of the 17th and 18th centuries and certainly dates back to the 19th and 20th century oyster wars.
Oyster pirates fired cannon and rifles at Maryland Oyster Police and in 1879 Virginia sent a fleet carrying armed militia to capture and sink Maryland oyster pirates that had invaded Virginia waters in the dead of night.
Two years ago, Maryland’s General Assembly established oyster sanctuaries in various locations in Maryland waters in an attempt to reverse a one hundred year trend of diminishing bivalves.
In spite of the new laws setting aside areas of oysters for replenishment, a determined segment of the Maryland watermen and seafood industry has repeatedly violated the boundaries of the sanctuaries
During the hunts, Harding and Harward placed apples to bait the black bears, then led the hunters to those locations. For example, on October 25, 2009, Harding directed the undercover officers to the Raven Rock area near Friendsville, showing them where the bears would likely show up the next day. The following day, two hunters – one of them an undercover officer – taking part in a guided hunt led by Harding and Harward each killed a black bear over bait. The undercover officer shot his bear from a spot suggested by Harding, overlooking a pile of illegal bait. Harward also violated the terms of his hunting permit by remaining out of visual contact when the other hunter shot his bear. The bears killed by the hunter and the undercover officer were subsequently taken to a cooler located in the building where Harding conducted his business. Harding took photographs of the bears and the hunters, while Harward was recording the event with a video camera. Inside the cooler where the bear carcasses and skins were placed, the undercover officers saw five 25-gallon plastic garbage cans full of apple skins and cores, consistent with the apple pieces in the bait pile seen by the undercover officers.
Cops collar two crane-climbing ninnies; Teacher says “I’m doing this for my homies in the Marcellus shale and the people fighting the natural gas industry in places like Myersville,” Doyle said. – Police say that while Doyle was standing next to a Calvert County Sheriff’s Office marked patrol vehicle awaiting transport to the Calvert County Detention Center, she intentionally damaged the paint on the vehicle by scraping the handcuffs she was wearing in a manner that was gouging into the vehicle’s paint. Doyle was charged with destruction of property in addition for damaging the vehicle’s paint.
The bowfishing rig has been mostly used to shoot and retrieve trash floating in the canal. Though I have yet to shoot any invasive species of trash fish, I have become the top killer of trash in the Upper Keys.
Plastic bags and floating coconuts have been my main quarry. But, I am looking forward to hunting Tilapia in the freshwater canals of the agricultural Everglades flood districts
Rescue personnel spotted the stranded kayaker submerged to his waist and clinging to a rock to avoid being swept downstream in the swift moving water. The 54-year-old male victim was about 75 yards off the Maryland shore. Due to the 35 degree water and 25 degree air temperatures, fire department rescuers on the ground coordinated with the crew of Trooper 3 to hoist the victim from overhead to safety as quickly as possible.
OUTLAW WATERMEN
Poaching Pirate of the Chesapeake Adam Antes Continues to Flout the Law
NRP Charges Four Watermen with Oyster Violations; Adam Antes Busted Twice in a Month for Raiding Oyster Sanctuary
NANTICOKE, MD. — Natural Resources Police report that four Eastern Shore watermen charged during January with state wildlife violations by Maryland Natural Resources Police officers. One of them was cited again for raiding a sanctuary on the heels of another raid just a week earlier.
The sunset was magnificent! The sky was lit all around the horizon with a multitude of colors and cloud formations. It could have been the best sunset in the history of the world. As we marveled at the beauty, New York City was preparing for two feet (or more) of snow. Not only was my wife happy, she is also presently enthusiastic about helping me finish our big electric powered, handicapped accessible catamaran to share the joy of wine and bait sunset cruises with our friends and handicapped heroes.