Department of Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAA Fisheries Service
- Office for Law Enforcement

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 14, 2006

On May 18, 2006, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers, operating under a Cooperative Enforcement Agreement with NOAA Fisheries Service Office for Law Enforcement, conducted a dockside inspection of the fishing vessel Sea Angel in Port Canaveral, Fla. Onboard the vessel they discovered fins of large coastal sharks. The fishing season for large coastal sharks had already ended. Accordingly, the FWC officers contacted NOAA special agents, who initiated an investigation. Subsequently, the agents seized 91 pounds of shark fins and an undersized swordfish carcass.

NOAA's Office for Law Enforcement utilized a shark fin expert to sort and identify the fins by species. Additionally, OLE special agents collected tissue samples which were submitted to Nova Southeastern University 's Guy Harvey Research Institute in Ft. Lauderdale , Fla. , for DNA analysis. This analysis confirmed that some of the fins seized were also prohibited shark species, specifically from dusky and night sharks.

"With the help of our enforcement partners and with the use of technology such as DNA analysis, we were able to catch these violators." said Special Agent Richard Chesler, OLE – Southeast Division. "The destructive practice of illegal shark finning is a serious threat to sustainability of sharks in our oceans."

The Notice of Violation and Assessment and Notice of Permit Sanction issued to the owner of the Sea Angel, Fish Hunters, Inc., and operator Frank Davis III, list multiple counts of Magnuson-Stevens Act violations. These violations include shark finning, possession of large coastal sharks during a closure, possession of prohibited sharks, possession of undersized swordfish, and operating a vessel without a dolphin/wahoo operator permit.

The owner and operator have 30 days to request a hearing before an administrative law judge.

In 2007 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Commerce Department, celebrates 200 years of science and service to the nation.  From the establishment of the Survey of the Coast in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson to the formation of the Weather Bureau and the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in the 1870s, much of America 's scientific heritage is rooted in NOAA.

NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and information service delivery for transportation, and by providing environmental stewardship of our nation's coastal and marine resources. Through the emerging Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), NOAA is working with its federal partners, more than 60 countries and the European Commission to develop a global monitoring network that is as integrated as the planet it observes, predicts and protects.

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