Oyster Poachers!

[Yak Fish]

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries...rsized-Oysters

[kevinfry]

I wonder if the Gov will actually enforce the max penalty......seems they never do

[Yak Fish]

I think they need to start making examples of people who are knowingly doing something wrong. It's different if you have one or two by accident. When you've got bushels of 'em, that's just blatant disregard.

[DOGFISH]

Why does it not surprise me? Greed, greed, greed. One can only imagine the amount of fish and shellfish poached from the bay. The fines, confiscations and even jail time needs to be enforced.

[Capt C-Hawk]

The real blame should fall on the guys who put those oysters in the baskets. It's like an official flagging the second punch in football.

[rob-kayak]

Thanks for posting... I caught the articles early this week on my news feeds...

In my "opinion" the truck driver is just a "pansy"... aka middle man... he had to get them from
somebody... on the Allen Ellis radio show this Saturday morning a caller mentioned how he had
been arrested years ago for transporting a size able shipment of oysters into Baltimore.
The caller (aka busted guy) had the DNR watch him load his vehicle with the oysters... and then
be arrested once he got to Baltimore.

I do not wish to get into an argument here with who is responsible for who gets busted and when,
and who is responsible for checking the harvest...
But it sort of seems like when the man on the street gets busted for a joint and the dealer keeps providing.

So we will let that comment go... and hopefully with the cold weather we have had the culling of the oysters
can be returned so they get big and fat.

On another note... and more towards the enforcement aspect...
I am sure many of you heard about these guys a week or so ago....
Poaching rockfish... considering all the rule changes to harvesting... I find it ironic in a way...

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/201...r-striped-bass

And as far as enforcement is concerned... if you get the names of the guys from the article... you'll find they already have a history... at least as far as 2013 is documented... and I imagine if you dig deeper you would find previous infractions..
2013 DNR Suspensions...
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/fisheries...uspensions.pdf

The reasoning behind enforcement... and who, what or when... well... thats far out of my wheelhouse...

I worry about my little croakers being legal...