News from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

July 9, 2008

Vol. 38, No. 320

For more information, contact Sgt. Gregory Rhodes, Fish and Wildlife Enforcement, 302-542-6102 or 302-739-9913, or Joanna Wilson, Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.

Maryland Angler Faces Federal Charges for Overlimit of Bluefin Tuna

DNREC Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Agents on July 3 cited a Maryland man who keeps a vessel at North Shores Marina in Rehoboth Beach in a case involving overlimit of bluefin tuna.

Agents had set up surveillance on the vessel Reel Life, and on July 3 observed the boat returning from offshore fishing, and stopped two people who disembarked carrying a large cooler and headed for the marina parking lot. Agents found a 50.5-inch bluefin tuna with its tail cut off in the cooler. Aboard the vessel, agents found two more bluefin tuna, one 37 inches long and one 52 inches long.

The vessel's owner and operator, Joseph Allen Cangianelli, age 43, of Frederick, Maryland, was cited for overlimit of bluefin tuna, failure to maintain Atlantic highly migratory species in specified form (for cutting the tail off the tuna) and making a false statement to a National Marine Fisheries employee (the Fish and Wildlife agents, who also serve as federal marine law enforcement officers).

One of the bluefin tuna was seized for evidence, and a federal case is pending.

For further information, contact Sgt. Gregory Rhodes, Fish and Wildlife Enforcement, at 302-542-6102 or 302-739-9913.