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Northern Region

CO Paul apprehended two individuals on the North Branch of the Raritan River using a cast net to catch fish. The officer observed one individual casting the net as the second was acting as a “look out”. Once the officer stepped down to the riverbank, the second individual alerted the first of her presence. The first individual attempted to conceal the net before he was confronted by the officer. The officer was able to locate a bucket containing two sub-legal largemouth bass and four trout. The individuals, who possessed valid fishing licenses and trout stamps, told the officer they were tired of not catching any fish with their fishing rods so they decided to use a net. All the appropriate summonses were issued.

CO Jordan Holmes graduated from the Morris County Police Academy and received the prestigious Police Training Commission Merit Award. The award, voted by the Police Recruit Class, is given to the most outstanding recruit.

CO Sutton received the DEP Heroism Award for preventing an individual from committing suicide at White Lake WMA in August 2008.

CO Kuechler volunteered as an event assistant for the Law Enforcement Torch Run for the New Jersey Special Olympics.

CO Sutton issued 14 summonses in a 2 week period at the Pequest River Trout Conservation Area for over the limit, use of bait and undersize trout violations.

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Central Region

Lt Sich observed two individuals with no licenses displayed fishing at Millhurst Lake in Manalapan. When the officer approached to make an inspection, one of the individuals dropped his fishing pole, climbed over a barrier and attempted to leave the area. He was intercepted prior to reaching his vehicle. When confronted, the subject stated that he wasn’t fishing and was just leaving. He even told the officer that he didn’t know anything about fishing regulations because he didn’t fish. A quick check of bureau records revealed that the subject was currently revoked for previous fishing violations. The appropriate summonses were issued.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, officers from the central region conducted a patrol of the Forked River Wildlife Management Area in order to curtail illegal off road activity. Officers encountered a lighter than usual crowd that day due to an accident that had occurred the previous day on an adjoining property. The subject, who wasn’t wearing a helmet, flipped his ATV and sustained severe head and neck injuries which required him to be air lifted to a nearby hospital. It was very apparent that the adjacent property owners, concerned about liability, were now prohibiting riders from entering their property. Officers utilizing the bureaus ATV’s and those stationed at strategic locations throughout the management property were able to apprehend a total of twenty illegal riders that day for various all-terrain vehicle violations.

Officer Martiak was on patrol on the Assunpink WMA when he came across a vehicle parked in the middle of the road. As he pulled around the vehicle, he noticed the driver and passenger looking at him very closely. When Officer Martiak stopped to see if everything was okay, he observed open containers of alcohol in the front seat of the vehicle. A records check of the driver showed that he had a suspended driver’s license. The appropriate summonses were issued and the vehicle was impounded. The following week, Officer Martiak was again on patrol in the Assunpink WMA, when he observed a vehicle with an expired inspection sticker. After stopping the vehicle, it was determined that the vehicle was unregistered and the operator’s driver’s license was suspended. The appropriate summonses were issued and the vehicle was impounded.

Officer Martiak and Lt. Lacroix were on patrol in the Colliers Mills WMA during one of the recent rainy days when they observed fresh vehicle tracks that swerved all over the road throughout the WMA. They also observed fresh beer cans thrown along the road. Following the tracks, they came across a vehicle with five occupants at the back of the property. The passengers in the vehicle were found in possession of alcoholic beverages and after interviewing them, two admitted to throwing cans out of the vehicle. The driver was not wearing a seatbelt and the vehicle was not in regulation concerning inspection. The front seat passenger was also well known to Fish and Wildlife, as he has been written numerous WMA violations in the past several years including dumping and after hours. Knowing that he had failed to show up in court in the past and had not paid summonses on time, he was run for any outstanding warrants. It was determined that he had two warrants out of Jackson. He was placed in custody and taken to Jackson PD. The appropriate summonses were issued to the driver and other passengers.

Officers Martiak and Szulecki participated in the Torch Run for the Special Olympics and also attended the Medal’s Ceremony during the Special Olympics.
Officer O’Rourke was called out one evening for a complaint of a large group of people using a cast net at Dam Site 5 on the Assunpink Creek. When he arrived at the scene, he could not locate any net, but did find four fishermen in possession of large mouth bass during the closed season. They were charged accordingly. Several days later, Officer O’Rourke and Lt. Lacroix checked a group of fishermen at Dam Site 5. As Officer O’Rourke walked down to the fishermen, he observed a man throw a net down into the water and begin stepping on it to push it under the mud. The fishermen were found in possession again of four large mouth bass. None of the fishermen had licenses, but it was during the free fishing weekend. Summonses for possession of bass and interference were issued.

Lt. Lacroix responded to a complaint of a large pile of construction debris on the Assunpink WMA. She was able to retrieve several names and addresses from the pile after an hour of searching. She was able to track down the responsible party by the end of the day. The woman’s name found in the pile had moved into a new home and had done some remodeling. A man with a trailer had offered to remove the pile of construction debris from her driveway for $600. Luckily she had gotten his cell phone number. She contacted him and he contacted Lt. Lacroix. He stated that he had removed the debris from the homeowner’s residence, but that he had subcontracted out the dumping. He claimed he didn’t know how to get in touch with the sub contractor, but he stated that he would take responsibility for the violation and pick up the pile. He paid $1500. for the violation in court two weeks later.

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Southern Region

Lt. Wayne Tonnesen and CO Risher conducted an afternoon fishing patrol of the Elmer Lake Wildlife Management Area in the municipalities of Pittsgrove and Elmer Boro, Salem County. CO Risher called in a canoe with two fishermen. After some strange looks from the rear fishermen and a delay to come ashore the fishermen complied with Officer Risher. Neither of the fishermen possessed valid fishing licenses and were in possession of beer. Because the canoe did not have life jackets and the operator did not have a valid registration or valid boating credentials CO Risher returned with the fisherman to the pickup truck. Lt Tonnesen remained with the second fisherman at the Elmer Lake boat ramp. The fisherman provided false information to Lt. Tonnesen at the boat ramp. CO Risher began to interview the other fisherman and the true identity of the second fisherman was ascertained. As the CO's conducted their field interview at the ramp the Elmer Police stopped by and assisted. It was determined that one of the fishermen had approximately $2500.00 worth of outstanding warrants. He was charged for fishing without a license, interference with the duties of a conservation officer and possession of alcohol in a wildlife management area. The second fisherman was only charged with fishing without a license and released. Elmer Boro Police Department arrested the individual for his outstanding warrants and transported him to the county jail.

An Atlantic County Sheriff Officer serving a warrant located two raptors being held in an outside aviary. The officer contacted the Southern Region Office and Conservation Officer Fox started an investigation. Officer Fox located the birds and determined that the location was the same one that southern region officers had signed complaints on in 2004. Officer Fox applied and received a video surveillance warrant and placed a remote camera at the aviary. The surveillance established that the woman that was charged in 2004 with the unlawful possession of raptors was back in business. The camera caught her tending a Cooper’s hawk and a Great Horned Owl. Officer Fox received a search warrant to enter and seize the birds and served it while the suspect was tending the birds. At the time of serving the warrant the Cooper’s hawk was missing and the women denied being in possession of the bird. Rehabilitator Don Bonica assisted the case by taking possession of the Great Horned Owl and documenting the condition of the bird for court testimony.

Captain Tod Eisenhuth, Southern Region Captain and Lieutenant Greg Honachefsky, Southern Region Investigator have retired effective July 1, 2009. Both contributed greatly to the Bureau during their twenty-five plus year careers and will be missed. Everyone wishes them a long and active retirement.
Conservation Officer Batten received information that a large group of people were riding ATV’s at Menantico WMA. Upon arrival Officer Batten located four families that were riding together. There were a total of 15 people, mostly juveniles, riding illegally. The three adult males were cited for illegal operation of ATV’s on a Wildlife Management Area.

Conservation Officer Ciraolo received information regarding a woman in Egg Harbor City that was in possession of a large amount of turtles. After several days of investigation Officer’s Ciraolo and Ely stopped at the residence and interviewed the women. The investigation revealed that there were 26 different species of animals in possession without the proper permits. The woman had 3 species of birds, 10 species of reptiles and one species of amphibian. The woman will be cited for her extensive illegal collection.

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Marine Region

On 5/15/09 CO Dravis set up a surveillance of the FV Jamie Mae, a commercial otter trawl vessel, as it offloaded its catch at the Point Pleasant Fishermen’s Cooperative. For ten minutes the offload was uneventful until CO Dravis observed the captain emerge from the vessel’s cabin with a fish basket and place it on the co-op dock. He then observed one of the mates also exit the cabin carrying a plastic shopping bag and a zip lock bag. The plastic bag was transferred to a non-crewmember standing on the dock. This individual momentarily disappeared into the co-op building and then reappeared empty-handed. The zip lock bag, which seemingly contained fillets, was handed to another individual on the dock. CO Dravis then proceeded to the loading dock at the co-op and found the plastic shopping bag inside the building in a box containing ice. The bag contained 12 lobster tails and claws. All of the tails were undersized. This shopping bag also contained another zip lock bag with winter flounder fillets. The fish basket (from the captain) contained whole winter flounder. The other zip lock bag that was handed off at the dock was missing, along with the individual. The captain, who is also the owner, was charged with possession of mutilated lobster parts, undersized lobster tails and possession of winter flounder during closed commercial season. It should be noted that this vessel has an extensive past violation history and this is the second time this year the vessel has been caught in violation by CO Dravis.

On 5/16/09, Lt. Fresco and CO Swift inspected the FV Theresa, a commercial lobster pot vessel in Point Pleasant. CO Swift inspected the vessel’s fishing vessel trip report and found it to be blank, a federal violation. CO Swift also discovered 10 black sea bass fillets on board the vessel. A summons was issued for possession of mutilated fish, and a warning was issued for failing to complete the fishing trip report.

On 6/6/09 and 6/14/09 CO’s Jones and Scott, along with Lt. Fresco and CO Martiak conducted boat patrols in the Raritan and Sandy Hook Bays. On 6/6/09 five summonses were issued for possession of undersized summer flounder for a total of 15 fish and 6 summonses and 7 written warnings were issued for clamming violations. One 6/14/09 the CO’s issued 7 summonses for undersized summer flounder that included 21 illegally possessed fish. On of the boats inspected possessed 14 shorts. Another vessel was inspected earlier in the day with no violations and the two fishermen were handed a copy of the marine fish regulations. The fishermen were also verbally reminded of the fluke size limit. Prior to departing, CO Jones said “We may be back to check you later”. Later on, the same vessel was encountered and the fishermen were asked if they caught any fish and one of the fishermen replied, “just sea robins”, and held up a sea robin. A quick inspection of their cooler revealed 3 undersized summer flounder measuring no larger than 13.5 inches that were concealed under sea robins. The regulation cards were buried in the cooler along with the fish.

FV Paramount, a party boat out of Brielle was inspected on two occasions this month. During the first inspection as the vessel moored to the dock, CO Swift observed an individual holding a tautog on the far side if the vessel. Tautog season is presently closed. CO Swift ordered the individual not to throw the fish, but was ignored. Also, a total of 19 sub legal black sea bass were recovered from other fishermen and a total of six summonses issued. At the later inspection it was almost déjà vu when CO Scott ordered an individual on the far side of the vessel, not to throw any fish over board. The individual ignored the command and dumped the entire contents of his cooler overboard which included 10 black sea bass and 11 ling. This individual was written a summons for interference and wanton waste of 21 fish.

On 6/13/09 CO Jones was conducting a paper work investigation at the J T White hard clam depuration plant in Highlands. He observed a clammer landing clams and whom he had developed information on for several months. CO Jones approached the clammer as he was leaving the dock and summoned him to stop. CO Jones asked the clammer if he had off loaded all of his clams. The clammer stated, “yes”. CO Jones observed a stack of 4 fish baskets nested inside each other in the bow of the vessel. CO Jones also saw something black in between the bottom two baskets. On further inspection CO Jones found 381 hard clams sandwiched in the bottom two baskets. The clammer claimed that he was going to dump the clams back into the water because the plant refuses to buy the very small clams, referred to as “little, little necks”. CO Jones sorted the clams in the plant and was advised by the plant manager that 195 of those clams would have been purchased by the plant. Only 3 out of the 381 clams were of sub legal size. This particular clammer had been caught numerous times in the last 20 plus years for similar bootlegging violations and has also served jail time as well. The appropriate summonses were issued and the clammer’s depuration permit was suspended indefinitely, with a permanent revocation being sought.

Lt. Fresco was watching sport boat fishermen in the Shark River on 6/13/09. He observed a fisherman in a vessel catch and keep what appeared to be a “questionable” sized summer flounder and made a mental note of the incident. Later in the day at the Belmar Municipal Ramp, this vessel having three occupants came to the ramp. The fishermen had their summer flounder in a cooler and all of the fish were of legal size. This boat had large rubber mats covering its floor. Lt. Fresco lifted a corner of one of the mats and observed a summer flounder tail sticking out. The fish measured 17.5 inches. Lt. Fresco continued lifting the remainder of the mats and found 10 sub legal summer flounder in total. The owner of the boat was written summonses for possession of 10 undersized summer flounder.

On June 1st, NMFS contacted the Marine Enforcement Office about a Limited Access General Category permitted sea scallop vessel which had entered the closed Elephant Trunk Sea Scallop Access Area (ETAA). Through their Vessel Monitoring System on board, the vessel was ordered to terminate their trip and immediately return to port. Under direction of SA Gilmore of NMFS Office of Law Enforcement, CO Petruccelli boarded the vessel upon its return to Atlantic Capes Fisheries in Lower Twp. CO Petruccelli seized the sea scallops landed due to the incursion and obtained all documentation required for processing the federal violation. As part of the seizure process, CO Petruccelli auctioned off the sea scallops taken from the vessel.

On June 1st, CO Petruccelli and CO Nicklow served Charles Burke III with a Notice of Permit Sanction issued by NOAA’s Office of General Counsel for repeated violations of federal sea scallop regulations. The notice initiates a three year permit suspension under the Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation Act of Mr. Burke’s NMFS operators permit and the FV Two Brothers scallop permits. NOAA General Counsel required that this notice be hand delivered due to Mr. Burke’s repeated refusal to accept delivery by mail or FedEx.

On June 12th, CO James responded to request for assistance from NMFS. Agents from the New Jersey Field office received a report of a Great White Shark landed by a vessel participating in a Shark tournament in Cape May. The shark was caught offshore and misidentified as a Mako. When the captain and crew landed the shark at South Jersey Marina, the tournament’s weigh master pointed out the fisherman’s mistake. The captain of the vessel immediately reported his error to NMFS and turned himself in for his illegal harvest. CO James met with Cape May Coast Guard officers who had escorted the vessel to their station in Cape May Harbor. CO James interviewed the captain and crew of the FV Miss Ellie, double checked the accuracy of shark’s identification, and seized the 83 inch 300lb specimen. CO James also made arrangements for the cold storage of the shark at Cold Spring Fish and Supply CO. until NMFS biologists could be contacted for retrieval.

During his regular day off on 5/12/09, CO Trembley observed three individuals illegally hunting turkeys. Shots were fired within close proximity of CO Trembley’s location and two of the individuals killed three birds. In addition to ruining a local farmer’ s legal pursuit of a turkey, the two hunters’ did not possess a permit for the zone that they harvested the turkey in. CO Trembley with the help of CO Stites was able to apprehend the individuals for their violation. The appropriate summonses were issued.

On May 27 th, CO Nicklow investigated the illegal possession of horseshoe crabs by a commercial fisherman. The individual was fishing 17 miniature fyke pots he set in Roundabout Creek in Little Egg Harbor Twp. The individual did not possess a valid 2009 license for the gear and subsequently did not have his gear properly marked with a gear identification number. The fisherman could not produce written documentation of his legal source of the horseshoe crabs he possessed for bait. Without a valid mini-fyke license and bona fide documentation of the legal purchase of the horseshoe crabs, the fisherman could not legally possess the crabs. CO Nicklow issued the individual summonses for failing to possess a mini-fyke license, and for illegally possessing horseshoe crabs without a license and the receipt of purchase. CO Nicklow issued a warning for the failure to mark his gear. The individual plead guilty to both violations in Little Egg Harbor Municipal court and was sentenced to a penalty of $600.00 plus court costs.

CO Nicklow continues to document high violation rates on the Charter/Party Vessels Miss Atlantic City and Capt Collet. The vessels are based out of the same dock located on Maryland Ave in Atlantic City and are owned by a husband and wife who operate the vessels for hire. On three separate occasions this month alone, CO Nicklow has boarded one of the vessels as it returned from offshore recreation charter trips. CO Nicklow is documenting a near 75% violation rate of patrons on these vessels. On June 3rd, CO Nicklow inspected the patrons leaving the Miss Atlantic City. He issued 8 summonses for the violation of the Black Sea Bass size and Bag limits. He seized and subsequently donated to the Atlantic City Rescue Mission, 200 illegal Black Sea Bass harvested on that trip.

On 6/13/09 CO James responded to a complaint involving the illegal harvest of tautog on the 8th St. jetty in Avalon. When he arrived, CO James observed two fish in a vehicle and proceeded to inspect fishermen on the jetty. CO James located the responsible party on the jetty and returned to the vehicle to inspect the fish. In the vehicle, CO James located a cooler which contained an additional 8 fish. In all, 10 fish were possessed illegally. CO James issued summonses for 9 undersized tautog and 10 possessed during the closed season. During his investigation one individual was unwilling to provide CO James identification. When facing arrest he eventually complied and was issued an additional summons from CO James for interference.

On 5/29/09, CO Snellbaker assisted by CO Vasquez conducted surveillance of the “T” Jetty along the Absecon Inlet in Atlantic City. Officers observed as a group of three individuals illegally harvested tautog, placed them in red onion bags and hid them deep in the crevices between the rocks that make up the jetty. Even with knowledge of where the fish were hidden, officers had a very hard time retrieving the stash of fish. CO Snellbaker and CO Vasquez apprehended the individuals and issued 5 summonses for taking tautog during the closed season and the possession of 23 undersized tautog.

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