In the Florida Keys, hoarding undersized lobster tails or stealing protected seafood from the ocean can land you in prison.
Police and prosecutors are seriously pursuing people who violate nature conservation laws.
A 51-year-old Houston man learned about it Wednesday after stuffing the queen conch in a bucket and shirt, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
Tony Ngoc Truong was charged with the following misdemeanor charges: Harvesting Queen Conch and was booked into the county jail. A visitor to the Keys went awry with a plan to steal the conch, according to a deputy.
Truong was walking in the water. Channel Five Bridge near Mile Marker 71.5, wearing a five-gallon bucket and a gray shirt. He threw his shirt under his car as the deputies crossed in front of him. Truong said he had three snails in his shirt and he had five in a bucket, the agent said.
He was caught on a site between the city of Marathon in the Middle Keys and the village of Islamorada in the Upper Keys.
Sheriff’s Department spokesman Adam Linhardt said: “The Queen Conch was returned to the water alive.
Truong was taken to the Stock Island county jail.About four hours later he was released without depositing a security depositaccording to prison records.
It is unclear from prison records if he has legal representation. His arraignment is scheduled for August 27th in Monroe County Court.
Snails are slow-moving and illegal to catch in Florida, but are a popular import from the Caribbean.
In recent years, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has filed several lawsuits for snail poaching, including the 2017 case in which a Texas woman was jailed for capturing 40 queen snails.
All conch shells were returned to the sea.
What is “Conti”?
Queen conch is found in the Caribbeanthe Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas, and Bermuda, but commercial and recreational harvesting is generally prohibited in U.S. waters.
The US conch fishery closed in the 1970s due to overfishing. But that hasn’t stopped Americans from getting their hands on delicious mollusks.
Conch meat is used in Key West to make conch salad and conch fritters and is a staple in the Bahamas. So America — Major Importer of Meat — We get almost all conch.
Queen conch can live up to 40 years, grow up to 12 inches long and weigh up to 5 pounds.
But conch shells are so iconic in the Keys that locals who grew up in Key West call themselves “conch shells.”
Key West High School’s mascot is a conch shell. A member of the football team is Fighting His Conch, and the softball team is Lady Conch.
In Key West, the “conch” is a point of pride, as it is used to represent the natives of the small island. Many locals consider true conch shells only to those whose families go back at least one or two generations.