Florida Divers Stole Fishing Gear and Freed Sharks in Front of Police Chief

Two divers may face jail time after cutting and removing a fishing line that they claim was entangled with vulnerable lemon sharks.

The two men from Palm Beach County in Florida were convicted on December 6 of stealing fishing gear in federal waters.

The captain and mate, 56-year-old John R. Moore Jr., and 29-year-old Tanner J. Mansell, each face up to five years in prison, as well as fines of up to $250,000, a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Moore and Mansell run a business taking tourists to swim and dive with sharks in the waters off Jupiter, Florida. In August 2020, the pair were taking out a group of six tourists—including a police chief on holiday from the Midwest—when they saw a length of fishing line with sharks attached.

Moore claimed he thought that the line was an illegal and abandoned "ghost set," and that the sharks attached were lemon sharks, classified as "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List.

The pair then proceeded to cut the line and haul in "more than three miles of monofilament line, weights, gagnions, and the marker buoy," according to the statement, storing the line on the deck of their boat. At least 19 sharks were released from the line in the process.

However, this line was found to actually be attached to a large orange buoy marked with its vessel name, as required by federal law for a commercial fishing line, the markings of which were also visible in videos taken by the tourists on board.

After cutting the line and freeing the sharks, Moore called state enforcement officers and told them that he had found an illegal shark fishing long-line with entangled lemon sharks, leading to him cutting them loose, but never mentioned that the line was attached to a properly marked buoy.

In Florida waters, anglers are limited to one shark per person per day, and a maximum of two sharks per vessel, with sharks caught only being allowed from a select list of species.

However, boats in federal waters can get a permit to fish sharks commercially, and as described in a NOAA HMS Compliance Guide for commercial fishing, a variety of species not allowed to be caught in Florida waters are permitted to be fished.

These species include the great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead, smooth hammerhead, silky shark, tiger shark, and the vulnerable lemon shark that Moore claims to have spotted on the long line.

The Department of Justice statement also says that when a Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officer came to investigate the fishing gear, the marker buoy proving the legality of the line was absent, and that the gear appeared newer that it would if it were abandoned, with fresh bait and no rust present on the hooks.

Against the advice of the FWC officer to leave the line as evidence, Moore and Mansell were captured by surveillance cameras scavenging the line for the hooks, attachments, and weights, which were also taken by some others present on the dock.

This gear is estimated to have cost a total of $1,300, with the released sharks also representing a loss of thousands of dollars to the commercial fishing operation.

The trial has gathered a large amount of attention in the local community, many of whom support the divers and their actions.

A fundraiser Instagram page was started in the summer to raise money for the legal fees of Moore and Mansell.

"Criminalizing people with a genuine concern for wildlife safety sets a dangerous precedent that could discourage people from helping when it's needed. These divers who thought they were doing the right thing are facing five years in prison, meanwhile people convicted of actual abuse against sharks get a mere slap on the wrist," Raven Lynette, a diver and shark campaigner from California, told Newsweek.

All of the evidence was presented at trial, and the pair were convicted by a jury for the theft of commercial fishing gear in federal waters.

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Update 12/07/22, 7:50 a.m. ET: This article was updated with newer information on the lemon shark's conservation status.