The weather was freezing and the wind was really whipping which means that the majority of large boats would be coming in from offshore. Agent Roy Pier and I were on Federal Patrol in Venice when a huge shrimping vessel, commonly known as a "super slab", called the "Big Corey" from Biloxi was steaming into Venice. The vessel tied up at D & C Seafood Dock and we boarded the vessel for a routine check. The subjects on board were in possession of all required licenses.

The vessel was an eighty-five foot IQF(Individual Quick Freeze) freezer boat. This vessel was huge and had four large trawls hanging in the rigging. The vessel differs from traditional trawlers because it sorts the shrimp caught into crawfish sacks and submerges them into an IQF machine mounted on top of the deck which freezes the shrimp. The shrimp are then stored in the hold, which is a large freezer. This process allows the fisherman to stay out for extended periods of time and eliminates the need for ice.

After receiving permission from the captain to inspect the hold, I climbed down the ladder to take a look. The hold wasn’t even a quarter full. It contained about sixty sacks of shrimp, frozen flounder, frozen channel mullet and three large cobia. Cobia are also called ling or lemon fish and are a coastal migratory pelagic species. Commercial shrimpers are allowed to keep two cobia per person and are only allowed to sell two cobia per trip The forward part of the hold held a large pile of empty crawfish sacks on the starboard side and a pile of trawl extensions with T.E.D.S. on the port side. As I have learned from past experience, an agent must give the big holds a thorough search and this time it paid off. I found eleven huge cobia concealed underneath the sacks and nets. The crew of four were allowed eight cobia but these subjects possessed fourteen.

After talking to the captain, he stated that he knew the limit and was keeping the Cobia for his friends and family to make a special soup to celebrate the Vietnamese New Year. He also stated that he caught the cobia in his trawls in 300 feet of water and pinpointed the position on a NOAA chart at seventy-five miles South of Grand Isle in Federal Waters. The fourteen cobia weighed 498 pounds which gave them an average weight of 35 pounds per fish. Some of the cobia weighed in excess of 50 pounds.

The captain, who took responsibility for keeping all of the fish was cited for taking over the limit of cobia and not abiding with Federal Law in the EEZ (exclusive economic zone). The cobia were seized and sold to the highest bidder

In conclusion, I thought to myself, How many cobia do you think these subjects would have kept if the bad weather didn’t make them come in. Roy and I had a good feeling on our way home because we caught a violator who was taking noble, beautiful, mature fish. Maybe he will think twice before doing it again.