First, nothing identifiable in photo so no doxing their faces are covered, just their bodies and the turtle visible.
Was out at the beach taking photos of sea turtles today, and happened to walk by a man throwing a cast net, up very close to some jettys, in the breakers. It's not a very good spot to catch bait, which is what you use a cast net for. I kept walking and didnt pay much attention at first.
I happened to turn around in time to see him holding a fucking green sea turtle under his arm like a soccer ball sorta, and walking up to his companion, sorta waving for her attention. They both started taking photos with their cellphones. Im assuming to post on the internet or share or some shit. They sorta heaved it back into the surf after they were done snaring it and taking photos of it.
I got personally identifying photos and want to turn them over to the state game wardens. I really should do so right? Im fairly sure i should be, because they arent cops, even though they can do things police can do like arrest/detain/ticket etc. because they can only do it when it pertains to fish/wildlife/game/etc. Do I turn them in? If the game wardens act on this, these two people are going to have a really bad time. Texas has hotlines for this shit. NOAA even has hotlines for this. Im morally opposed to turning someone over to cops, but im also morally opposed to molesting wildlife. I dont hunt, I dont fish. Im 80% vegetarian and working towards vegan. While there are no signs specifically saying DONT TOUCH THE TURTLES there are signs everywhere with phone numbers to call if you see some dumbass touching the turtles. im fairly sure Im going to go to the TPWD office a few miles away tomorrow and take my SD card to them. Im just wondering if theres a reason not to I guess. Let it never be said I am a smart man.
If you give the benefit of the doubt does it sound reasonable to assume that snaring a turtle is what they came out to do?
I guess I'll play advocate for the couple and say, the guy didn't know that was a bad place to cast his net, he got excited when he saw turtle, flagged his partner down for some lucky pics, and set it free.
But if you asked me for an honest gut check I'd wager they went out to get some quirky pics for the 'gram and either ought to have known better or did know better and thought the rules didn't apply to them. I do not think you are betraying any ACAB principles to report this to wildlife department in your state.
Using a cast net in these conditions is a form of sight fishing. If microfiche says there are no baitfish visible here... He wasn't actually after baitfish. Plus of course turtles are easy to see in clear water, so he knew he was casting at turtles, which is a problem all of its own.
Repugnant behaviour.
Given his actions, I really do think so. He went straight to a spot I have photographed multiple times, teeming with sea turtles. It's one of a couple spots where folks like up in the water, and get tons of cellphone photos up close. Most folks are content to be close, get a couple gram photos and go on with their life.
He went straight to the spot, even though he had to make multiple casts, as soon as he caught a turtle, he quit, turned around and began waving for attention from his companion there. She may have been oblivious but he was not. Nobody casts a net here for baitfish because there are no baitfish to be had here and a fisherman would know that. It's literally the breakers, the whitewash zone. Baitfish can't counteract the wave action here so they don't school up here. I'm not a fisherman and I know that.
At this point I've already reported this person via the Operation Game Thief website. There is a spot for anonymous reporting and I did so while using a vpn.