MIAMI SEAFOOD COMPANY PLEADS GUILTY AND IS SENTENCED
FOR OFFERING UNDERSIZED LOBSTER FOR SALE

Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; David A. McKinney, Special Agent in Charge, National Marine Fisheries Service announced today that on March 16, 2004 that Interamerican Trading & Products Corporation pled guilty before United States District Court Judge Adalberto Jordan, in connection with an offer to sell approximately 30,720 undersized Honduran-origin spiny lobster in the United States. Pursuant to the Plea Agreement in the case, Interamerican admitted that the lobsters, which it attempted to sell in September, 1999 for more than $9.50 per pound, were imported into the United States contrary to Honduran law which specified a tail size of no less than 5 ½ inches. This activity was in violation of the Federal Lacey Act, Title 16, United States Code, Sections 3372 and 3373, prohibiting imports contrary to the laws of a foreign contrary that were intended to conserve the species from overfishing and depletion. Judge Jordan sentenced the company to a fine of $90,000 which was paid at the time of sentencing and ordered to be deposited into the NOAA Fisheries Enforcement Fund, and also imposed an eighteen month period of probation.

According to the charging document and a statement of facts provided to the Court, an employee of Interamerican made the offer to sell the undersized lobster tails to another seafood business, unaware that a NOAA National Marine Fisheries Special Agent was listening to the conference call.

The Caribbean, or Florida, spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) is found in salt waters from Florida to Brazil, including the waters of Honduras, comprising one of the world’s largest commercial lobster fisheries. Biologists believe that the offspring of lobster populations off the Western Caribbean coast, including Honduras, are key sources for replenishing the lobster stocks in the Southeast United States. Spiny lobsters must mature to a certain size and/or age, typically at least 5.5 inches in tail length, before they are able to reproduce. To promote reproduction, both the State of Florida and Honduras, as well as many other Caribbean nations, have established a size limit for spiny lobster of 5.5 inches in tail length. For the same reason, both the State of Florida and Honduras prohibit the harvest of female lobsters that are in the eggbearing stage of reproduction.

Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative effort of the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service; United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Alabama and Wildlife and Marine Resources Section of the United States Department of Justice. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Watts-FitzGerald.