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Keys Fisherman Can't Dip A Toe In Keys Waters For Five Years

When FWC officers stopped the Perseverance off Marathon in January 2018, they found 165 undersized lobster.
FWC
When FWC officers stopped the Perseverance off Marathon in January 2018, they found 165 undersized lobster.

A commercial fisherman in the Florida Keys has been sentenced in a case involving undersized lobsters. The sentence also keeps him out of the water for quite some time.

Alfredo Gonzalez was the captain of the lobster boat Perseverance when Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers stopped the vessel off the Gulf side of Marathon on Jan. 13, 2018.

On the boat they found 165 undersized lobster, as well has three hogfish that were out of season — and also too small.

On Jan. 3, Gonzalez pleaded no contest to one felony and 233 misdemeanors.

Judge Ruth Becker sentenced him to a year in jail and said he can't fish in Florida for the rest of his life.

According to the Monroe County State Attorney's office, the judge also banned him from Monroe County waters — including swimming and diving, even from shore — while he's on probation. That will last for five years.

Copyright 2020 WLRN 91.3 FM

Nancy Klingener covers the Florida Keys for WLRN. Since moving to South Florida in 1989, she has worked for the Miami Herald, Solares Hill newspaper and the Monroe County Public Library.