# Anyone know these guys?



## Lelandtampa (Oct 20, 2020)

https://www.keysnews.com/news/crime/fwc-seeks-tarpon-taking-suspects/article_e7df9c92-c7a4-11eb-927c-dbfe80742461.html


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## Net 30 (Mar 24, 2012)

Can't fix stupid.


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## TheFrequentFlier (Feb 17, 2016)

This shit makes my blood boil.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

If they wanted to identify them they could.


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## TheFrequentFlier (Feb 17, 2016)

Can we identify the people that jig for tarpon in Boca Grand too?


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

One of these morons has Facebook they'll get caught.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Backcountry 16 said:


> One of these morons has Facebook they'll get caught.


There is facial recognition technology that could ID them in a few seconds.


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## Capnredfish (Feb 1, 2012)

There is a fourth suspect. Someone took the photo. Doubt it is a passerby.


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## Vinny L (Oct 20, 2020)

Fucking Morons


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## topnative2 (Feb 22, 2009)

On March 15, between 7 and 11 p.m., three men removed a tarpon from the water and killed it at Calusa Campground Resort & Marina in Key Largo, FWC officials say. 

Registration records,employees etc........etc.....


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## William Odling (Jan 8, 2020)

Hialeah trash no doubt. No one from that campground will say a word, that place is like a refugee camp, honor among thieves and all that.


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## Mako 181 (May 1, 2020)

Key Largo is considered part of South Miami.


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## TrojanBob (Sep 30, 2018)

No doubt FWC saw pic on social media. Listening to a Tom Rowland podcast with a game warden, leaned that FWC scans social media for violators. Even holding Tarpon too far out of the water for a pic before release. Or a Goliath Grouper.


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## Mako 181 (May 1, 2020)

Sometimes it feels like someone’s watching you ?


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## K3anderson (Jan 23, 2013)

TrojanBob said:


> No doubt FWC saw pic on social media. Listening to a Tom Rowland podcast with a game warden, leaned that FWC scans social media for violators. Even holding Tarpon too far out of the water for a pic before release. Or a Goliath Grouper.


And yet when theres massive spills of chemicals that kill entire ecosystems, FWC doesn't find anyone.


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## JC Designs (Apr 5, 2020)

I sure would like to witness something like this. I guarantee the suspects would be caught!😉


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## SSFiero (Sep 10, 2019)

I’m not for keeping or killing a tarpon in anyway. They have zero food value. 
HOWEVER, the law states you can keep one with a tag.
If there’s more to having a tag, I feel like it should be clarified. 
it does say that it should be purchased when in pursuit of the IFGA record. 
is that the only time you can use the tag? Does it have to be a record to keep it?

I seriously doubt these guys have a tag. But I’m not a fan of guilty until proven innocent. 

Before I’m ostracized, I’d rather see tags go away and the fish protected. 
on the other hand,if I ever visit costa rica, I want to catch a short snook, out of season (Florida season) and post it on social media to watch people meltdown for me keeping a legal fish In another country.


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## Smackdaddy53 (Dec 31, 2012)

Yeah I’m sure they intended on tagging it.


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## Mark H (Nov 22, 2016)

In my youth, I knew guys who would have posed like this with a wall mount tarpon just to wind everyone up. Not that I ever did anything stupid and embarrassing as a teenager.


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## Vinny L (Oct 20, 2020)

Mark H said:


> In my youth, I knew guys who would have posed like this with a wall mount tarpon just to wind everyone up. Not that I ever did anything stupid and embarrassing as a teenager.


I did🙄


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## redchaser (Aug 24, 2015)

Mark H said:


> In my youth, I knew guys who would have posed like this with a wall mount tarpon just to wind everyone up. Not that I ever did anything stupid and embarrassing as a teenager.


The blood trickling from it's gills and what looks like tarpon jizz on the guys shorts make me think it's probably not a wall mount. Just a hunch mind you.


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## Steve_Mevers (Feb 8, 2013)

K3anderson said:


> And yet when theres massive spills of chemicals that kill entire ecosystems, FWC doesn't find anyone.


Your anger should be directed at DEP and EPA regarding the lack of enforcement, the FWC does not investigate chemical spills, but I am sure their biologist are monitoring the impact to fisheries.


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## Mark H (Nov 22, 2016)

redchaser said:


> The blood trickling from it's gills and what looks like tarpon jizz on the guys shorts make me think it's probably not a wall mount. Just a hunch mind you.


Yeah they don't seem like the kind of guys who would have paid that much attention to detail. 😂


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## Nway93 (May 9, 2016)

People would raise hell about this but honeslty would love to see bahia honda and boca grande shut down to fishing during certain times like western dry rocks...Those fish get beat up and mishandled to begin with and the amount of sharks doesn't help. I don't like more regulations but we obivously can't self regulate and I don't have anymore right to tarpon fish by throwing flies on 16# tippet than someone slinging a hog leg mullet or crab on 50# power pro.


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## TylertheTrout2 (Apr 21, 2016)

Dade counties finest right there..


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## Sparkerdawg (Jan 3, 2021)

This won’t end well.


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## Monoman (May 31, 2009)

SSFiero said:


> I’m not for keeping or killing a tarpon in anyway. They have zero food value.
> ...


FWIW I once worked with someone that grew up in a culture of eating everything they caught.... even tarpon. He said they have lots of bones but it was easy enough to avoid the bones because of their size. Coworker claimed that tarpon was a favorite and he had a tag just so they could keep em if they ever caught one. I had no reason to doubt him.


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## rovster (Aug 21, 2018)

Just stand on any bridge in the keys and the amount undersized fish going into coolers is sick. What makes this different?


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## Backcountry 16 (Mar 15, 2016)

rovster said:


> Just stand on any bridge in the keys and the amount undersized fish going into coolers is sick. What makes this different?


Photographic proof is my guess.


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## 35036 (Apr 26, 2020)

Alright guys lol….Everybody knows this is happening…all the time. And more so to species that are taken for food since they’re more desirable. Not sure why folks act so outraged or if it’s self imposed nobility for the sake of their image on the forum…it’s a tarpon, nothing more, nothing less….and yes, I love them. But, These goof balls were probably just having a couple beers, and never guessed in a million years they’d pull a fish like that from the bank. They’re obviously excited since they’re possibly only in a position to pursue fish like that on foot so it was a celebration kinda night….even if they knew or didn’t know how ridiculous they look. What’s really insane, after a career in fisheries and law enforcement, is that this will likely result in the person who caught the fish eventually admitting to it and receiving a warning…even significant resource violations such as a Goliath, Bull red, or illegal snook often times only illicit a $250- $500 fine….the fine schedule is nauseating…yet a Bull red in Texas just means you buy a tag…just like spoken about here…except Bull red tags are over the counter here, and endlessly issued for customers. My point?…intent is key, and this would be VERY different if it were a commercial boat with an entire loot of closed season or illegal species…one tarpon from the bank isn’t going to detrimentally affect the entire species, not anymore than the pressure they receive from our skiffs all day….makes it seem kinda silly when you take a minute to compare it to the Red Snapper conundrum, Eh?…

Cheers, Alan


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## LTChip (Jan 18, 2017)

On one hand Tarpon tournament fishing with jigs is a bigger threat to tarpons than the few people who kill them for meat....on the other hand tournaments and tarpon tourism feeds many families in FL. Lastly...these fish are not endangered to my knowledge so if someone needs to kill one to feed their family should there be a limit rather than a ban on killing them? It is not so uncommon to see people killing them here in PR - the meat ends up feeding families or maybe ends up in empanadas/pastelilos as "chapin"...which is trunkfish but those are rare here now due to gill nets I assume.


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## 35036 (Apr 26, 2020)

LTChip said:


> On one hand Tarpon tournament fishing with jigs is a bigger threat to tarpons than the few people who kill them for meat....on the other hand tournaments and tarpon tourism feeds many families in FL. Lastly...these fish are not endangered to my knowledge so if someone needs to kill one to feed their family should there be a limit rather than a ban on killing them? It is not so uncommon to see people killing them here in PR - the meat ends up feeding families or maybe ends up in empanadas/pastelilos as "chapin"...which is trunkfish but those are rare here now due to gill nets I assume.


Don’t tell anybody about the billfish migration on the west side of PR and how folks catch and harvest them in mass quantity to feed their family…terrible meat….worse than tarpon I would assume. I’ve seen how bristly and fibrous that stuff is…but it’s not quite the same moral travesty when it doesn’t make it on Facebook, ya know. Maybe I’m too old school for my age….but if everybody just does THEIR part…and minds their own 🤷🏻‍♂️


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## D-fly (Mar 30, 2020)

They do not have zero food value. Fishing the Rio San Juan between Nicaragua and Costa Rica I spotted two locals in a canoe with a harpoon. I asked my guide what they were hunting and he said "Tarpon." I mentioned I thought they were not edible and he said they grind them up and make sausage!


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## 35036 (Apr 26, 2020)

D-fly said:


> They do not have zero food value. Fishing the Rio San Juan between Nicaragua and Costa Rica I spotted two locals in a canoe with a harpoon. I asked my guide what they were hunting and he said "Tarpon." I mentioned I thought they were not edible and he said they grind them up and make sausage!


I believe the general consensus is that they’re not very well liked when people say that….a less literal meaning. Hell, anything’s edible if you put your mind to it 😆


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## EddyR (Jul 31, 2019)

25 yrs ago I saw some guys come in to Matheson and lay one, about that size, on the cleaning tables. They had speared it and were starting to try and scale it....


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## 35036 (Apr 26, 2020)

EddyR said:


> 25 yrs ago I saw some guys come in to Matheson and lay one, about that size, on the cleaning tables. They had speared it and were starting to try and scale it....











Nothin’ the ole’ handy-dandy eagle claw fish scaler can’t take care of!!!


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## redchaser (Aug 24, 2015)

alan feeser said:


> View attachment 176721
> 
> Nothin’ the ole’ handy-dandy eagle claw fish scaler can’t take care of!!!


My dad was very much a waste not want not kid of guy, raised on the Cajun tradition of sustaining yourself from the land and waters. Dad would keep HUGE black drum. He played with a lot of different ways to scale them, from using metal cleats to fish scaling gadgets etc. He finally settled on a big fish scaling solution of using the claw end of a claw hammer. It actually worked well. And FWIW in true Cajun fashion my parents were both good enough cooks to make even big black drum taste pretty darn good.


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## finbully (Jan 26, 2013)

Two of the bozos have been arrested:

FWC arrests 2 for the illegal killing of a tarpon (govdelivery.com)


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## William Odling (Jan 8, 2020)

finbully said:


> Two of the bozos have been arrested:
> 
> FWC arrests 2 for the illegal killing of a tarpon (govdelivery.com)


Hialeah, called it!


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## Capt. Moose (Dec 12, 2015)

William Odling said:


> Hialeah, called it!


They won't give up their buddy.. Street rules


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## DuckNut (Apr 3, 2009)

They'll plead guilty and get a $500 fine.


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## jonterr (Mar 24, 2013)

alan feeser said:


> Don’t tell anybody about the billfish migration on the west side of PR and how folks catch and harvest them in mass quantity to feed their family…terrible meat….worse than tarpon I would assume. I’ve seen how bristly and fibrous that stuff is…but it’s not quite the same moral travesty when it doesn’t make it on Facebook, ya know. Maybe I’m too old school for my age….but if everybody just does THEIR part…and minds their own 🤷🏻‍
> They taste kind of like eagle


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## Mark H (Nov 22, 2016)

alan feeser said:


> Don’t tell anybody about the billfish migration on the west side of PR and how folks catch and harvest them in mass quantity to feed their family…terrible meat….worse than tarpon I would assume. I’ve seen how bristly and fibrous that stuff is…but it’s not quite the same moral travesty when it doesn’t make it on Facebook, ya know. Maybe I’m too old school for my age….but if everybody just does THEIR part…and minds their own 🤷🏻‍♂️


That's interesting. You would think the value to the poor would be greater in developing/further developing (I know squat about billfish fisheries) the resource as a catch and release recreational asset along with associated tourism? Perhaps a win win opportunity for someone with experience and capital?


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## 35036 (Apr 26, 2020)

Mark H said:


> That's interesting. You would think the value to the poor would be greater in developing/further developing (I know squat about billfish fisheries) the resource as a catch and release recreational asset along with associated tourism? Perhaps a win win opportunity for someone with experience and capital?


In a region of the world that has overfished their waters due to the cultural belief that anything caught or hunted should be ate, it doesn’t leave a lot left for the natural resource. They moved onto eating billfish in south and Central America because of legitimate protein deficiencies after depleting nearshore snapper/grouper species. It’s not a matter of capital, etc….I believe in eating what I harvest as well…but you share the story of the Dodo bird and you’ll get blank stares….”meh, if it goes extinct, so be it, we gotta eat.” It’s a very traditional food thought process, that’s all.


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## Mark H (Nov 22, 2016)

I get you can't preach to starving people but if there's that many billfish there, surely there are rich people who would pay for the privilege.


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## 35036 (Apr 26, 2020)

Mark H said:


> I get you can't preach to starving people but if there's that many billfish there, surely there are rich people who would pay for the privilege.


And they do…and they cry about the local “peasants” eating their game fish. What your average person doesn’t realize is billfish (like Tuna, swordfish, and sharks) are all managed under the same complex of fish and permitted as “Highly Migratory Species.”…the billfish they are eating don’t speak Spanish brother…they migrate all over the world. So yes, there is a sport fishing scene there, and it’s a large scale revenue builder…for a small population of locals and visiting fisherman. But they’re catching the same fish that migrate across the greater and mid Atlantic….they’re just catching them in a tropical location where conservation is not enforced….in fact…other than a couple stressed snapper and grouper species…HMS is the only managed fishery in Puerto Rico…because of the very thought process I mentioned before.


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## Mark H (Nov 22, 2016)

Not sure I follow your point?


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## 35036 (Apr 26, 2020)

Mark H said:


> Not sure I follow your point?


Well, lol…my point is how can your recommendation of it being a revenue builder for sport fisherman willing to pay even be a viable option if they can’t compete with the locals harvesting them for food?….they aren’t compatible, lol….they migrate close enough for them to be caught a short trek from the shoreline…nobody is pulling their charter boat 1/2 mile offshore when they’re swarmed with people competing for a meal. Not the experience people pay for.


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## Mark H (Nov 22, 2016)

Guess it depends on how much money there is to spread around and what the governing authorities decide.

Maybe not financially feasible. OTOH, how much money could it take to pay for the protein value of a bunch of billfish vs what wealthy billfishermen would spread around the economy? If the authorities get buy in from the subsistence fishermen based on cash as well as control access to the fishery legally, might be win win. Have to run the numbers before you bothered to look into the politics and regulatory environment. Seems like it might be back of the napkin good numbers but I leave that to others.


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## 35036 (Apr 26, 2020)

Mark H said:


> Guess it depends on how much money there is to spread around and what the governing authorities decide.
> 
> Maybe not financially feasible. OTOH, how much money could it take to pay for the protein value of a bunch of billfish vs what wealthy billfishermen would spread around the economy? If the authorities get buy in from the subsistence fishermen based on cash as well as control access to the fishery legally, might be win win. Have to run the numbers before you bothered to look into the politics and regulatory environment. Seems like it might be back of the napkin good numbers but I leave that to others.


Yea, Probably not a bad idea. Understanding the politics of their system would answer your questions, not the other way around. There are no “subsistence fisherman”…again…nothing gets regulated…anybody who catches a fish can carry it to a market to sell. “The authorities”…the PR DNER are also culturally pacticing the same detrimental harvest methods. It’s also a major source of food quality concern. When your culture IS your politics, and there’s no enforced
Laws or standards, problems abound…Anyway, there’s a lot of info out there to be had on it, it would paint the picture a little better to help those unaware but im not going continue beating a dead horse for someone who’s not privy. Cheers.


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## Mark H (Nov 22, 2016)

alan feeser said:


> Yea, Probably not a bad idea.


Probably not a bad idea or beating a dead horse with the clueless. Did you change your mind part way through? 





alan feeser said:


> Understanding the politics of their system would answer your questions, not the other way around.


Uh no. Look at the numbers first. If the numbers don't work, there's no point in talking to them about it.





alan feeser said:


> There are no “subsistence fisherman”


OK, small time commercial fishermen. Doesn't change the narrative.





alan feeser said:


> …again…nothing gets regulated


 So far. 




alan feeser said:


> …anybody who catches a fish can carry it to a market to sell. “The authorities”…the PR DNER are also culturally pacticing the same detrimental harvest methods. It’s also a major source of food quality concern. When your culture IS your politics, and there’s no enforced
> Laws or standards, problems abound


Change isn't easy. It's really difficult if you give up before you start.




alan feeser said:


> …Anyway, there’s a lot of info out there to be had on it, it would paint the picture a little better to help those unaware but im not going continue beating a dead horse for someone who’s not privy. Cheers.


Sounds like you are privy. Thus the discussion.


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## 35036 (Apr 26, 2020)

Mark H said:


> Probably not a bad idea or beating a dead horse with the clueless. Did you change your mind part way through?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Brother, I’m not picking a fight with you…I actually have seen the numbers. I instruct, and federally enforce commercial and recreational fisheries law in the south Atlantic, and Carribean, and maintained the curriculum for Caribbean HMS and snapper grouper with NOAA and the Caribbean fisheries management council…your bone to pick is not with me, as I’ve tried sharing info with you…BUT…and here’s the kicker….all the things you’re implying aren’t about changing law or management…it implies changing their CULTURE and their beliefs down there. Keep up the optimism, but take a moment to realize that the fish are food and only food. Their real focus is the narcotics being trafficked by the same fishing industry out of Fajardo and Ponce…and to think…Out of all the posts about the dudes who killed a tarpon, you got intrigued by a side bar comment made by a dude that does have the info. I’m sorry it was that bothersome and derailed the thread. I’d love to have an informed discussion as you implied, but at this point, might as well start a new thread. Have a great day bud.


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## Fatherof4 (Jul 29, 2019)

Agree with some on this...And I have never fished for nor caught a tarpon, but they are #1 on the bucket list. I'm sure these idiots did not have a tag...With that said...the tarpon is dead. How many hundreds or thousands are killed at the hands of sharks every year by fisherman catching tarpon....Yes, it might be different...but, what these idiots did was intentional...same for trying to get a tarpon and get sharked. At the end of each transaction, a tarpon is dead. Catching a tarpon at the Keys bridges is intentional as well. 

Not defending these guys by any means, but, it is a tarpon. It is a gamefish. Sure. Listen to podcasts...these things get banged up every year...specifically by the guides putting their clients on the fish. It's a fish...after all...and folks in the know, report there are NO shortage of them. Let's keep it in perspective.


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## 35036 (Apr 26, 2020)

Fatherof4 said:


> Agree with some on this...And I have never fished for nor caught a tarpon, but they are #1 on the bucket list. I'm sure these idiots did not have a tag...With that said...the tarpon is dead. How many hundreds or thousands are killed at the hands of sharks every year by fisherman catching tarpon....Yes, it might be different...but, what these idiots did was intentional...same for trying to get a tarpon and get sharked. At the end of each transaction, a tarpon is dead. Catching a tarpon at the Keys bridges is intentional as well.
> 
> Not defending these guys by any means, but, it is a tarpon. It is a gamefish. Sure. Listen to podcasts...these things get banged up every year...specifically by the guides putting their clients on the fish. It's a fish...after all...and folks in the know, report there are NO shortage of them. Let's keep it in perspective.


A very commendable perspective for someone who openly admits to not be in love with them yet. I very much appreciate your opinion being grounded in reality and I wish you much success in your future hunt for the silver king. They are great, and will challenge you to be a better fisherman. Good luck and hope you get one soon! Cheers.


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## 35036 (Apr 26, 2020)

alan feeser said:


> A very commendable perspective for someone who openly admits to not be in love with them yet. I very much appreciate your opinion being grounded in reality and I wish you much success in your future hunt for the silver king. They are great, and will challenge you to be a better fisherman. Good luck and hope you get one soon! Cheers.


Seems to have double posted…not sure why, lol


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## Mark H (Nov 22, 2016)

alan feeser said:


> Brother, I’m not picking a fight with you…I actually have seen the numbers. I instruct, and federally enforce commercial and recreational fisheries law in the south Atlantic, and Carribean, and maintained the curriculum for Caribbean HMS and snapper grouper with NOAA and the Caribbean fisheries management council…your bone to pick is not with me, as I’ve tried sharing info with you…BUT…and here’s the kicker….all the things you’re implying aren’t about changing law or management…it implies changing their CULTURE and their beliefs down there.


No doubt, but there's no starting point to change the culture unless the economics could work. Gotta' eat. 




alan feeser said:


> Keep up the optimism,


Have none. Just curiosity, which you have helped with.



alan feeser said:


> but take a moment to realize that the fish are food and only food. Their real focus is the narcotics being trafficked by the same fishing industry out of Fajardo and Ponce


Now THAT'S interesting. Those numbers, without a doubt, trump all the rest of the numbers. So, it is, as you say, culture and law enforcement first. NOW I see.




alan feeser said:


> …and to think…Out of all the posts about the dudes who killed a tarpon, you got intrigued by a side bar comment made by a dude that does have the info. I’m sorry it was that bothersome and derailed the thread. I’d love to have an informed discussion as you implied, but at this point, might as well start a new thread. Have a great day bud.


I think you HAVE informed us.


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