A Texas man couldn’t wait for lobster miniseason to start, police say. Now he’s in jail
A Houston man was jailed Tuesday — one day before the start of spiny lobster miniseason — after police said they caught him poaching the crustaceans in Islamorada.
Yuliver Rodriguez-Tejeda, 43, who is listed as a truck driver in jail records, was arrested on 14 counts of possession of out-of-season lobsters, 14 counts of possession of wrung lobster tails on the water, 10 counts of possession of undersized lobster, possessing over-the-bag limit lobsters, and tampering with evidence.
The annual lobster miniseason runs Wednesday morning through Thursday night. The regular eight-month commercial season opens Aug. 6.
For two days at the end of every July, thousands of people come to South Florida, especially the Florida Keys, to hunt for their bag limit of spiny lobster.
The annual event began decades ago and was aimed at bringing tourists to the region during the slower summer season and to ease tensions between recreational and commercial lobster anglers in advance of the beginning of the regular season.
But police said Rodriguez-Tejeda jumped the gun and poached undersized lobster at that.
Lobsters also must remain in whole condition while in or on the water, but Rodriguez-Tejeda had wrung tails on the water, police said.
A Monroe County sheriff’s marine deputy was on patrol at 2 p.m. Tuesday near mile marker 76 when he saw two snorkelers and a boat.
The deputy said Rodriguez-Tejeda was snorkeling off a boat with another man while a third man on a personal watercraft was making trips from their spot to land with a bag.
Deputy Nelson Sanchez stopped the boat with the snorkelers and said Rodriguez-Tejeda dumped lobster tails into the water from his dive bag.
Sanchez called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which arrived and removed the 14 illegal lobster tails from the shallow water where Sanchez said he watched Rodriguez-Tejeda toss them.
The personal watercraft operator picked up the other snorkeler and took him to shore, police said. More arrests and charges may be pending, said sheriff’s office spokesman Adam Linhardt.
Rodriguez-Tejeda was taken to the Plantation Key jail where on Wednesday morning he was being held without bond.
Lobster miniseason is the first opportunity for recreational divers to catch lobsters since the recreational and commercial regular seasons closed on April 1. The miniseason bag limit is six lobsters per person per day in Monroe County and Biscayne National Park It’s 12 per person in the rest of Florida.
The regular-season daily bag limit is six lobsters per person.
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 5:57 AM with the headline "A Texas man couldn’t wait for lobster miniseason to start, police say. Now he’s in jail."
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