FWC Issues 2 Citations to FOTP People for Feeding Pelicans

[Mackerelman]

I made everyone a promise to show Videos of the Friends of the Pelicans Feeding the Birds.
This Crap of Feeding the Pelicans has to Stop !
This Time, Jeanette-(Owner of Friends of the Pelicans) & 1 of Her Volunteers got Caught & Fined.
Do Not Try This Out At The Piers. The FWC Will Fine You If You Get Caught. 
Grab a Drink or a Snack & Check out this Video.
Watch the whole video as We literally cannot make this up!!

www.facebook.com/100063676113185/videos/pcb.1650461528700947/917234352854831

FWC issues citations to two FOTP volunteers for feeding pelicans.

On Saturday, March 4, 2023, FWC Law Enforcement issued two citations to two Friends of the Pelicans volunteers for feeding pelicans. Each person was issued a citation and assessed at sum $100.00 The charge was per F.S.S. 379.412 1A1 FEEDING WILDLIFE OR FRESHWATER FISH WITH FOOD OR GARBAGE. The two defendants obtained Counsel. A plea of Not Guilty/Denial was entered in each case, 2023 IN 0800 and 2023 IN 0797. On May 3, 2023, at 10 AM, the case will be heard at 1051 MANATEE AVENUE, WEST BRADENTON, FL 34205 in COURTROOM 4-E. The redacted FWC Law Enforcement BodyCam footage was obtained through a Public Records Request. The videos were then edited together to make one video and shorten its time!

•FOTP volunteers get caught Illegally feeding the pelicans and Immediately try to direct false accusations against the Skyway Misfits. Thankfully the officers were there practically all day and didn’t observe such claims! •

•FOTP volunteer- “There’s that whole group that’s involved with this umm”. “yea they’re going to impose some new regulations I think on the fisherman, so the fisherman actually got very angry with the rescuers and so” “They think that by stopping us from feeding the birds that it might help their mission on I don’t know” “Anyways it’s created a all out war out here”

•Officer- “ What happens when you know like you said, you throw the bait down there and another bird gets it, because then that bird is being habituated, it’s being fed , you know what I mean?”

•FOTP volunteer- “That, They yea NO, They fish out on the water all the time, I don’t think they’re getting, that’s just an OPINION, that isn’t what’s going on”

•Officer- “So when the fisherman are feeding the birds , then that’s the same opinion, we’ll they get fish out of the water anyways so what’s the”

“When the fisherman are doing it and they’re not trying to rescue a birds, then that excuse It doesn’t work that way” “But it works for you guys”

•FOTP volunteer - “no, no, no, they grab the bait off the hooks all day long, so It doesn’t matter if we throw It without a hook or with a hook, it’s being thrown into the water and the birds are going after it because they eat fish”

“So you know it’s really these stupid arguments that don’t make sense”

•FOTP volunteer- “ There’s a solid LAW don’t Feed the birds, but you can , (cast) If it’s on a hook you can do that”

“We thought of doing that , we thought of putting our bait on a hook, and doing it that way (cast)”

“They do that all day long, that was our next thought of how we were going to do this”

“How are we going to rescue these birds?”

“So we were thinking of putting our bait on a hook and sending it out there and see if we can reel them in because it’s the only way we can rescue them”

Officer- “Well it’s still the intentional purpose”

**Please pay attention to when the founder of FOTP Mary Jeanette Edwards calls and speaks to the officer**

Instead of It being a teachable and an understanding moment for FOTP volunteers, It wasn’t and they knew “best” and “more” than the officer!

~To add FOTP want a permit to brake federal laws and feed the birds ~

Sad thing is we are sure a lot of the volunteers are good people, but they’re being highly misguided, misinformed, and not lawfully trained by the founder of FOTP.

With that being said,

There isn’t any reasoning or working with this whole organization when they refuse to acknowledge and change their own wrong doings and Illegal actions even when faced with the law!


Disclaimer; Everything obtain was via Public Records request!

[Flatsrunner]

Hire a lawyer for a $100 fine, who comes out on better on that? Mean time blame everyone but yourself regardless of video evidence. Sounds like FWC are dealing with a 10 year old mindset.

[tesseract]

Apr 20, 2023 17:58:23 GMT -5 Mackerelman said:

www.facebook.com/100063676113185/videos/pcb.1650461528700947/917234352854831

The link doesn't work for me, I get this error message:

• This content isn't available right now
• When this happens, it's usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it's been deleted.

If anyone else has problems accessing the video, I have used a program called "yt-dlp" to access the link and will put it on youtube here:

[inoeatfish]

I’ve seen them feed the birds about 2 weeks ago.

I also hook a pelican today. Wasn’t fun dragging it in. Cast net it and pull it up and then de hook it.

I’ve had a few closed call with them this year. I’m surprise I haven’t hook more.

[fishsci]

It would be good for all the facts to be presented here. I happened to speak to the lady in pink about 2 weeks ago, when she came up to say hi to the young park ranger woman who was talking to another fisherman. The park ranger, the lady in pink and I had a discussion about birds and feeding. The pink lady told me that she is employed by the bait shop to rescue any pelicans that might be hooked by fisherman. I believe her, and why else would she have keys to that little building where the frozen bait was kept?

The park ranger young lady and the pink lady and I agreed that the FOPs should not feed the birds, and that the only justification for that was to throw out some pieces of bait to lure a pelican that had been hooked and was trailing line -- so that it could be cast netted and the hook and line removed before it flew back to its roost in the mangroves where it probably would have the line tangled in the mangroves -- leading to the death of the pelican. The three of us agreed that it is never right to feed pelicans unless it is to save them from death due to hook and line that they are carrying. The pink lady directly said that she would otherwise never feed a pelican and that if any FOPs did so, they should be given a citation.

I suspect that the FWC officer gave them a citation because of the technicality of the rule or law not having an exception for such rescue efforts.

Believe me, I am no fan of FOPs wanting to close the pier or impose severe restrictions on fishing. However, I am a fan of anyone trying to save a pelican from a long torture of dying a long slow death after being tangled in a mangrove roost by the fishing line it picked up at the pier.

If I am right about the video being a case of just trying to save a hooked pelican, the video and narrative above is falsely making a villain when none really exists. Maybe the true facts should be determined before jumping to a false conclusion -- just because it could seem to shed a bad light on FOPs.

[Flatsrunner]

The FOP shed the bad light on the fishing public when they made false lies about anglers scalping pelicans to the media so any of the retributions they get are deserved, If anyone else breaks the rules out on the piers they get the same treatment. I have meet the young lady volunteering and assisting out there and she is very nice and helpful.

[Mackerelman]

The Guy in the Blue Shirt & Hat is the person who got Me hooked with the Squid Spoon 3 years ago by yanking on My Line.
All 3 of those people are Volunteers for Friend Of Pelicans.
Just to let everyone know, the Lady in the Pink Rescuer Outfit was made to work for the Piers by the State since the Court Case against the Piers & the Anglers is still going on.
That is why She had the key to the Shed.
She also was Warned to be Nice to All of the Anglers out there.
That is why She is being Nice to Everyone.
They are the ones that want to get paid for Rescuing the Birds.
They get paid through Donations.

The Lady that permanently works for the Skyway Piers is named, "Liz Sea".
I know Her & She is a Very Nice Person.

[fishsci]

Thank you for the additional information. Some of it still does not explain everything clearly, however. The Lady in Pink that I spoke with for maybe 20 min really did seem genuinely nice. She strongly disavowed herself from FOTP's attempt to restrict fishing from the piers. She said that she does not get involved with that kind of stuff, and that she only got involved with FOTP in trying to help injured pelicans on the piers and at the rookeries where they might get entangled by the line they carried back from the piers. She said that she travels 4 days a week up from Pt. Charlotte. That seemed like quite a very nice thing for her to do. So, please tell us how she is "made by the State" to do that? What do you mean by her being made to do that. If the court case is still ongoing, I can't see how the State could make someone do something. Maybe you can explain that?

[Mackerelman]

Apr 21, 2023 15:45:00 GMT -5 fishsci said:

Thank you for the additional information. Some of it still does not explain everything clearly, however. The Lady in Pink that I spoke with for maybe 20 min really did seem genuinely nice. She strongly disavowed herself from FOTP's attempt to restrict fishing from the piers. She said that she does not get involved with that kind of stuff, and that she only got involved with FOTP in trying to help injured pelicans on the piers and at the rookeries where they might get entangled by the line they carried back from the piers. She said that she travels 4 days a week up from Pt. Charlotte. That seemed like quite a very nice thing for her to do. So, please tell us how she is "made by the State" to do that? What do you mean by her being made to do that. If the court case is still ongoing, I can't see how the State could make someone do something. Maybe you can explain that?

The Piers are Owned by the State of Florida & Governed by the State Highway Department.
With the Friends of The Pelicans filing Suit with the Skyway Piers to shut down the Piers due to the Birds getting injured, the Case is still on-going.
The FOTP told lies about the Anglers purposely hooking & injuring the birds & then told more lies to cover up their lies & then held the Skyway Piers responsible.
The FOTP got caught in their lies & several of them got fined for the lies that they told on all of the Anglers & the Piers.
The Lady lies to protect Herself from losing Her Temporary Job. The Pier down in Port Charlotte where She usually works got destroyed by the Hurricanes last year.
Those 3 all work for the FOTP. I know this for a Fact.
The Judge in the Case then decided to make the Manager of the Piers temporarily Hire one of the FOTP People to work for the Piers until the Case gets finally decided.
The Judge is just trying to be Fair to both Parties in the Case until the Case is Finally Settled.

[tears143]

I find their post on fb interesting...

[Flatsrunner]

The young lady I met last year was nice and very helpful, was glad to see I was using hi vis yellow braid. She was handing out cards with her name and number and riding the cart around.

[fishsci]

Apr 21, 2023 19:44:25 GMT -5 tears143 said:

I find their post on fb interesting...

Yes, Tears, I too just looked at the FOTP Facebook page and was impressed.  I realize that they probably try to make the problems seem as large as possible, but I have to admit that it seems much larger than most of us would think.  I imagined that maybe one or two pelicans get hooked/tangled in lines on a busy weekend day, and maybe another one or two per week day.  But their numbers seem to show that it is much more severe than that.  That is the most that I have seen, but the FOTP numbers make me rethink things.

By the way, the Pink lady from Pt. Charlotte told us that she is not against fishing, and that her husband is a fisherman down in Pt. Charlotte.

Anyway, I suggest that others do what you, Tears did, and  look at the FOTP Facebook page.  It might give you a better perspective.

I think that most fishermen at the piers would want to do whatever was reasonable to limit pelicans dying because of our fishing.  Reasonable is the operative word. 

It seems that banning treble hooks is reasonable, because it would not hurt our fishing.  Maybe 2 rods set out and one in hand would be reasonable.  

Beyond restricting fishermen, it seems to me that there is something that could greatly reduce the problem.  That is for DOT to demolish the old eastern lanes where so many pelicans hang out before flying under or along the fishing side.  That could make a huge difference because pelicans do not often land and rest on the fishing lane of the piers.  Plus, maybe DOT could simply blast the eastern lane with explosives and just let it fall in place -- providing more rockpile reef habitat, and better fishing on the east side of the pier. 

Finally,  we all should ask that an exception to feeding birds be make to the rules -- if and only if it is done to try to rescue/save a bird that has picked up line and is in danger of dying from that.

Most fishermen are like me and love nature and want to protect it in reasonable ways.  It is not just about fishermen versus FOTP and who wins. 

[tesseract]

Apr 21, 2023 8:47:48 GMT -5 fishsci said:

It would be good for all the facts to be presented here. I happened to speak to the lady in pink about 2 weeks ago, when she came up to say hi to the young park ranger woman who was talking to another fisherman. The park ranger, the lady in pink and I had a discussion about birds and feeding. The pink lady told me that she is employed by the bait shop to rescue any pelicans that might be hooked by fisherman. I believe her, and why else would she have keys to that little building where the frozen bait was kept?

No offense but your lack of intelligence should be a sign for everyone here to just ignore you. The bait shop is in the business of selling bait, not rescuing pelicans. Why would a for-profit company waste hundreds of dollars per week in wages to save pelicans? 

Unless you mean she is employed by the state government or some other agency. Are you still sticking to your story that she is employed by the bait shop? 

You are by far the most annoying member of this fishing forum. You simply say dumb or pointless things to irritate people.

You're also extremely dishonest and manipulative. 

[fishsci]

All I know is that she said that she works for someone with a guy's name (that I did not know, and don't remember) as she pointed toward the bait shop.

A reasonable, and rational person might have the ability to think that the bait shop owner might want to reduce pelican deaths so that the pier does not get shut down, or fishing is so restricted that the bait shop has to lose business or go out of business completely. If someone could not think of that, it says a lot about that person.

Maybe even the bait shop owner just wants to do a good thing and help reduce pelican deaths. Anyone who could not think of that is probably incapable of thinking of or doing good things.

I take no offense with you personal attacks. It is badge of honor to have someone like you attack me.

[carlf]

Toppling the bridge remnants with explosives would be a disaster.
Every fish under the bridge at each blast point a within 100' would be killed.
Horrible idea.

[Flatsrunner]

Its been brought up before but Im sure,they could get rid of the unused structure , hydraulic stingers (jackhammers) on barges, all about money, possibly and If FOP gets a small skiff and do a round up like other cities do to round up swans for annual check ups.Not perfect method but better than feeding them on the piers.

[fishsci]

Apr 22, 2023 15:24:13 GMT -5 carlf said:

Toppling the bridge remnants with explosives would be a disaster.
Every fish under the bridge at each blast point a within 100' would be killed.
Horrible idea.

I agree that using underwater explosives should not be done.  I as thinking that explosives could be used to break up the road decking, and let the concrete fall in place.  But I am not an explosive expert, so I cant be sure that is feasible.  The pilings could be left in place, or maybe once the decking is gone, they could be pulled down by large barges and add to the structure.

[tears143]

Small pop to scare the fish away and then big pop to bring the bridge down. I think the people that bought down the TV bridge messes up and kill a bunch of fish there. So learn from that is small pop to scare and big pop to bring down.