Lobster poaching starts early

[TrimixToo]

IF they do appear.......second degree misdemeanor and up to $250 fine.
But in many of these types of cases from out of state visitors they 'fail to appear' cause it's an extra trip/costs to come back. This year the judges have been handing out the max fines/penalties. If they fail to appear, the judge 'can' issue a bench warrant which just kinda lays in wait {never expires too} until they get stopped usually for a traffic violation and then have to post bail in their home state for 'failure to appear'. New job background checks do some damage too cause it will pop up and then you are non-hireable cause open warrants. Add in credit applications, residence lease checks, and others don't make it worth it either.

The new laws really have some bite and the LEO's are really on it this year.

A local town justice (a friend, as it happens) issued a bench warrant some years ago or failure to appear. After several months, he went on vacation in Florida for four months. The person for whom the warrant was issued was stopped for something and the warrant discovered. After a few weeks, the police agency called the justice to see what to do. His response? "He'll still be there when I get back." He was, of course.

Don't screw with judges. They win.

 

[Saniflush]

I have never lobstered (although I would like to) but having grown up in the country and hunted almost every other game animal in the SE United States I have never understood people like this. It takes so little to do it legally, why bother doing it illegally? It can't even be that they are just hungry. The amount of money and effort they put forth to do it illegally you could just buy the damn things in the store.
Hammer their ass!

 

[lv2dive]

Isn’t there something written somewhere about due process/right to speedy trials? I’ve known people who were arrested for things like a bench warrant being issued for failure to pay a $20 ticket - having to wait in jail for up to four months doesn’t seem legal.

A local town justice (a friend, as it happens) issued a bench warrant some years ago or failure to appear. After several months, he went on vacation in Florida for four months. The person for whom the warrant was issued was stopped for something and the warrant discovered. After a few weeks, the police agency called the justice to see what to do. His response? "He'll still be there when I get back." He was, of course.

Don't screw with judges. They win.

 

[aquacat8]

Poor lobsters... it sucks to be a tasty sea insect. Although I will hypocritically eat them, I don’t have the heart to take them when I’m underwater. I like the little guys.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

Isn’t there something written somewhere about due process/right to speedy trials? I’ve known people who were arrested for things like a bench warrant being issued for failure to pay a $20 ticket - having to wait in jail for up to four months doesn’t seem legal.

Failure to appear is a big deal, even if the original offense was trivial. A bit like perjury. If a person has shown they won't appear, there's a logic to holding the person for trial.

In Florida a speedy trial appears to be 90 days for a misdemeanor or 175 for a felony. Keep in mind a lot of traffic infractions are viewed as civil offenses, not criminal. That is, a parking ticket is not even a misdemeanor.

 

[kelemvor]

What about no dive flag ?
Apparently Florida is very strict on a dive flag

No flag -- Fine ?

SDM

Unfortunately, you're mistaken. I've got a thread on SB somewhere on this topic. There are several flaws to our dive flag laws.

Firstly, only divers and professional captains with a captains license tend to have any idea what either kind of diver down flag is (US red/white or the blue/white other one). We're a tourism driven state and requiring training would deter tourists from renting boats... you get the idea. Visiting boaters tend to drive over to a dive flag to see what they are. Jet ski renters use them as slalom poles to race around. Some divers (not me) consider a dive flag to be a bigger risk than not having one and choose to ignore the law.

Second, penalties for getting caught is something like a $25 fine.. that's it. I'll have to look it up, but it's so pathetically small as to be only a minor inconvenience for anyone but the lowest of income families. There's no jail time, and it's not going to get you a record. Basically, it's a law that has no teeth.

Third, it's something that is only typically enforced as a "secondary" offense. If you run over a diver who had a flag, you're going to get fined $25 in addition to lawsuits or whatever else comes of it. If nothing happens, law enforcement isn't going to chase down a tourist who got too close to a flag and kept going. If you got targeted for an inspection and so happened to be too near a flag you might get a citation. I don't think LE considers it to be a very big deal.

I had been trying to organize a group to post informative signs at boat docks, but I kind of dropped the ball. I need to get a thousand or so printed and laminated.

Good dive boat captains tend to run interference in order to fend away other boaters from groups of divers, so at least we've got that going for us.

 

[Wookie]

Good dive boat captains tend to run interference in order to fend away other boaters from groups of divers, so at least we've got that going for us.

I don't know what it looks like to have a hundred footer bearing down on you in your 8 knot sailboat at 20 knots of closing speed, but if you'd just had your radio on, none of this would have happened.

Global you for sailboaters.

 

[Saniflush]

I don't know what it looks like to have a hundred footer bearing down on you .

This would be my guess

Double take surprise Caddyshack boat scene | Reaction Gifs

 

[MaxBottomtime]

 

[Wookie]

Rule 14.