27-05-2025
Fisherman who killed bottlenose dolphins sentenced to a month in jail
A Florida charter boat captain will pay a $51,000 fine and spend a month in jail for killing bottlenose dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a sentence handed down last week by a federal district judge.
Zachary Brandon Barfield's sentencing by Magistrate Judge Michael J. Frank of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida followed a plea deal with prosecutors on three counts of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act stemming from the shooting and poisoning of dolphins.
The guilty plea followed a two-year investigation by NOAA Fisheries and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission after a law enforcement agent in 2023 received a tip that a fisherman was killing bottlenose dolphins in waters in the northern Gulf of Mexico, which President Donald Trump recently renamed the Gulf of America.
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According to a statement of facts filed into the court record, Barfield, whose business operated out of Panama City, inserted a deadly insecticide called methomyl into baitfish using paper towels to deter dolphins from eating red snapper off fishing lines. He later fired a shotgun five times at dolphins near his fishing vessel, killing one, according to court filings.
