Dallas woman gets 15 days in Florida jail for collecting seashells on vacation

[douglas9]

A Dallas woman who spent her vacation collecting 40 queen conch shells from the Florida Keys will serve 15 days in jail and six months of probation and pay $768 for her souvenirs.

Diana Fiscal-Gonzalez, 30, pleaded no contest and told the Monroe County judge she didn't know it was illegal to collect the shells when they contain state-protected mollusks, The Miami Herald reported.

A Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation officer was able to return most of the shells to the water alive after an anonymous Key West tip sent him to Fiscal-Gonzalez, according to the Herald.

n/t

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2018/07/19/dallas-woman-gets-15-daysfor-collecting-seashells-vacation

[beachbum bob]

1. its a the law but really 15 days??

pretty excessive consider how florida law enforcement deals with white collar criminals...(they don't)

[marble falls]

3. !5 days sound about right.

[Little Star]

2. Florida trying to destroy their own tourist industry! Duh!

[marble falls]

4. Better they let Texans to kill off the wildlife first???

[MuseRider]

5. There have been many rules made to try to stop the death of the reef

all over the world. Many many years ago I was told that shell collecting was no longer allowed. MANY years ago, this was in other countries but when I was in Florida the next time I was told that then. It was posted in stores, it was posted on beaches, it was posted in restaurants on the beaches. Then came the scuba rules of tucking in your gear so it does not drag on the reef. It made a significant difference when thousands of people did not drag the reef or collect shells. Then they added that divers could not wear gloves to keep nitwits from grabbing on to the reef thus causing damage and death to the creatures. Now it is sunscreen. If people had listened or used their minds before all this we might not be in the trouble we are in. From the last comment I gather she was collecting live creatures. Why? 40 conch makes an awful lot of ceviche. My guess, since I don't think anyone can eat that much conch in as short a time as you would need to, is that she was going to let them die and sell the shells for a lot of money. The best shells for collectors requires them to collect them live and let the creatures die. Then they are in the best condition to sell. Queen conch shells might make her quite a nice bit of cash. 15 days? Not enough.

[Javaman]

6. 40 Queen Conch shells?

this is a queen conch shell and she wanted 40 of them..with the mollusks still inside?

one or two without the mollusks is a souvenir, but 40 live ones???

15 days and 6 months probation is deserved.