Man pleads not guilty in netting arrest
by Lisa Neff. Islander Reporter
An Apollo Beach man has entered a not guilty plea to illegal fishing charges in Manatee County Court.
Florida Fish and Wildlife officers arrested Christopher Ron Baker, 27, June 9 near Coquina Beach. FWC investigators also arrested Daniel P. Gilliland, 28, of Bradenton.
As of Islander press time, Gilliland had not entered a plea. He and Baker were scheduled to appear at the Manatee County Courthouse in Bradenton for a formal arraignment hearing on July 25.
Both men face multiple charges in connection with the incident: use of a gill net in state water, failure to transit gill net, possession of an unmarked gill net and no saltwater products license. Use of a gill net in state water is classified as a third-degree felony. The other charges are classified as second-degree misdemeanors.
Use of a gill net has been illegal in Florida since 1995.
On June 9, FWC Officer Louis Hinds was “contacted about a vessel off of Bradenton Beach that appeared to be pulling in a net,” according to a probable cause affidavit filed at the courthouse in Bradenton.
Two other FWC officers, Grant Burton and Will Widener, stopped the vessel and, according to the report, “retrieved the net from the water. The vessel was taken to the [nearby] dock and both subjects were charged.”
Hinds said the vessel had left the village area heading south and that he later saw the boat about 100 yards from the beach.
Hinds said in his FWC report that he watched through binoculars and night-vision goggles and saw “both subjects pull up the shoulder straps of their rain slickers as if preparing to do some work. Both suspects then walked to the back of the vessel, one positioned on right and one on the left and began to pull what appeared to be a gill net out of the water. I could see the two suspects taking fish out of the net and throwing them in the bottom of the vessel.”
FWC officers pulled a gill net from the water that, according to their report, contained four sharks, 10 pompano, two sheepshead, two mangrove snapper, one spotted sea trout, two whiting and 58 lady fish.
Hinds’ report noted that the boat, a 28-foot homemade skiff, was not registered to either defendant.
Baker and Gilliland were taken first to the Fulford Fish Docks in Cortez to leave the boat, then transported to Manatee County jail late June 9. They posted bail through Big Johnson Bail Bonds June 11. |
