Diver Dumps Bag in Front of Florida Wildlife Commissioner, Grouper Floats to Surface

A spearfishing trip outside Port Everglades turned into a wildlife case after Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers said a diver denied having any fish, then went underwater and allegedly dumped an illegal red grouper from a bag attached to his dive flag.

The incident was featured by the YouTube channel Arrest Cam Fish and Wildlife, whose host said officers were patrolling offshore when they spotted a dive flag on the surface of the water. As they approached the diver, they noticed a bag connected to the flag and asked what was inside.

The diver told them he had not caught anything and said the bag was empty.

But when an officer asked him to retrieve the bag, the diver went below the surface instead. According to the footage, officers then saw a flash of color underwater before a dead red grouper floated to the top.

The fish was later measured at about 19¼ inches, below the 20-inch minimum size described by the officer. It was also taken during the closed season for red grouper, which the officer said did not reopen until April 30.

The diver initially told officers he had been unsure whether the fish was legal. Later, he admitted that he had thrown it away because he was “trying to be slick.”

Officers Notice a Bag Attached to the Dive Flag

The Arrest Cam Fish and Wildlife host said the patrol began as a normal resource inspection near the Port Everglades inlet.

FWC officers approached the diver and asked about the bag tied to his dive flag. It was a simple question, but it immediately put the diver in a difficult position because officers could see that something was attached to the flag even though he insisted there was nothing inside.

The diver said he had not caught any fish.

When the officer asked him to retrieve the bag so it could be checked, the diver did not bring it up. Instead, he dove down.

That decision became the central issue in the case.

While he was underwater, an officer said he saw a large flash of color. Seconds later, a dead red grouper floated to the surface.

The officer confronted the diver as he returned to the boat.

“Why’d you do that?” the officer asked. “It’s an illegal fish.”

The diver did not deny that he had dropped the grouper. He said he had not been completely sure whether it was legal, but that explanation conflicted with what he had told officers only moments earlier.

The officer pointed that out directly.

“If I asked you, did you have any fish, and you said no,” the officer said, “why’d you dump it?”

For a conservation officer, that sequence made the case more serious than simply finding a fish that was slightly short or out of season. The alleged effort to hide it during an inspection created a separate accusation of interfering with an FWC officer.

The Grouper Was Both Undersized and Out of Season

Once the officers recovered the fish, they confirmed it was a red grouper.

The diver appeared to believe the minimum legal size was 20 inches and suggested that the fish had looked close enough to keep. However, the officer measured it at about 19¼ inches.

The officer also explained that the season was closed.

“Red grouper, closed season, minimum size 20 inches,” he told the diver. “Season doesn’t open until April 30th.”

The diver said he thought he had read the regulations backward and believed the fish was in season. He also said he thought it was at least 20 inches long.

The officer did not treat that as an excuse, especially because the diver had allegedly discarded the fish after officers asked about the bag.

“If you thought all those things, why’d you dump it?” the officer asked.

The diver’s response was unusually direct.

“Just trying to be slick, I guess,” he said.

That admission seemed to end any real debate over whether the fish was simply a borderline mistake. Spearfishing can make estimating a fish’s size difficult underwater, and the officer even acknowledged later that fish can look bigger than they really are while a diver is deciding whether to pull the trigger.

But once an angler or diver realizes a fish may be illegal, the proper response is not to discard it in front of officers and deny it existed. The rules can be unforgiving, but they are also clear: when the fish is questionable, do not harvest it.

A Spear Gun Becomes Part of the Search

The diver was also worried about a spear gun he said he had lost during the encounter.

After the fish surfaced, he repeatedly asked officers whether he could look for it. One officer told him he could search for it later, but first they needed to handle the fish and the citations.

The officers brought the diver aboard their vessel, secured his equipment, and asked whether he had any knives or other gear that could create a safety concern. He told them he had a blade attached to his leg, which officers addressed before allowing him to board.

The diver remained cooperative once he was on the boat, though he continued to argue that he had misunderstood the season and size rules.

He also asked whether he could take photos of the citations and paperwork because he did not have an easy place to keep documents dry while returning to shore.

The officers worked with him on that practical issue, offering him a water bottle and explaining that they could give him the paperwork but could not physically package it for him. It was a small detail, but it showed the contrast between the serious resource violations and the very ordinary logistical problems that arise when someone is cited while floating offshore in dive gear.

The Officer Explains Why Dumping the Fish Made It Worse

The FWC officer explained that the diver would receive three citations and one warning.

The citations were for possessing an undersized red grouper, possessing red grouper during the closed season, and interfering with an FWC officer during a resource inspection. The warning concerned the broader circumstances of the fishing stop.

The officer explained that the fish would be seized as evidence and that the diver would later receive a court date from Broward County.

“It’s one thing to have a close one while you’re spear fishing,” the officer told him. “But you can’t toss fish because you know they’re undersized or you know they’re out of season.”

That comment gets to the heart of why wildlife cases can become much more severe than people expect.

A diver may make an honest mistake when judging a fish underwater. Size can be hard to estimate, especially when visibility is poor and the animal is moving. Yet the moment someone chooses to conceal, destroy, discard, or lie about evidence, the encounter changes from an ordinary regulation violation into something that officers may treat as obstruction or interference.

The diver’s comments suggested that he understood this too late.

“I thought it was open season and I thought it was 20 inches at least,” he said.

But he had already admitted that he discarded the fish because he was trying to avoid being caught with it.

A Lesson in Spearfishing Rules and Personal Responsibility

The Arrest Cam Fish and Wildlife host emphasized that red grouper regulations were not simply a technicality.

According to the footage, the fish was both undersized and caught during the closed season. Those restrictions are designed to control harvest and protect fish populations, especially for species that are popular with recreational anglers and divers.

The officer told the diver that when harvesting fish or wildlife, the responsibility falls on the person doing the harvesting.

“That’s the thing,” the officer said. “When you’re harvesting fish, wildlife, or game, the liability is on us.”

The meaning was straightforward: it is the diver’s responsibility to know the species, size limits, seasons, and legal methods before taking a shot.

That point may sound harsh, but it is difficult to dispute. Spearfishing is selective by nature. Unlike a fisherman who hooks an unexpected fish, a diver usually has time to observe the target before deciding to pull the trigger.

The officer even gave the diver a practical rule that many experienced spearfishers would recognize: if the size is questionable, do not shoot.

“Fish do look deceiving,” he said. “But if it’s questionable, you don’t pull the trigger.”

The Case Ends With a Negotiated Plea

According to Arrest Cam Fish and Wildlife, the diver hired a criminal defense attorney and initially pleaded not guilty to the charges.

He later entered a no-contest plea as part of a negotiated agreement.

The interference charge was dropped, and the court withheld adjudication, meaning the case did not result in a formal conviction even though he entered the plea.

He was ordered to pay $299 in costs and fines, which the channel said he paid promptly.

The final outcome was far less severe than it could have been. He did not face a jail sentence in the account provided by the channel, and the interference allegation was dismissed as part of the plea arrangement.

Still, the incident became an expensive and embarrassing lesson over one grouper that was less than an inch short and taken during a closed season.

The most important fact was not that the fish looked close to legal underwater. It was that the diver allegedly tried to hide it after officers asked about it.

Had he been honest from the beginning, the stop may still have resulted in citations. But dumping the fish, denying he had caught anything, and then watching it float to the surface in front of conservation officers made the case much harder to explain away.

By the end of the encounter, the diver was allowed to return to the water and look for his missing spear gun. The grouper, however, was seized as evidence, and the citations followed him back to shore.