Busted!

Two Volusia County fishermen face $16,000 in fines after state wildlife officers found numerous violations when they boarded their vessel, Mama's Money II, in Ponce Inlet.

The incident occurred on Jan. 12, but since the violations occurred in federal waters, agents from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's office of law enforcement were called in to assist in the investigation. In the end, officers seized 35 whole snapper and 128 fillets as evidence.

The vessel's owner, Rudolph Dendekker, a 53-year-old Deltona resident, and the vessel operator Herbert Regen Jr., a 55-year-old from South Daytona, were issued permit sanctions and civil penalties for failing to maintain fish intact (red snapper, mutton snapper and cobia), exceeding the bag limit (red snapper), possessing undersized fish (red snapper), making false statements and/or obstructing or interfering with an investigation.

According to investigators, some of the fillets were concealed in the boat's hold. Federal officials submitted the fillets to a lab for DNA analysis which confirmed the fillets were from red snapper, mutton snapper and cobia.