ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — A Florida commercial fisherman has been sentenced to 80 hours of community service and fined $2,000 for cutting the bill off an endangered smalltooth sawfish and then releasing it back into the Atlantic Ocean.
The National Marine Fisheries Service says 38-year-old Chad Ponce was sentenced last month after he pleaded guilty to charges of killing an endangered species.
He was accused of using a power saw to remove the fish's extended nose.
Wildlife officials began investigating Ponce in July 2018 after receiving a tip about a roughly 13-foot smalltooth sawfish being caught in his commercial shrimp trawl nets off the coast of Ponte Vedra, Florida.
Sawfish primarily use their bill for sensing and hunting. Not having one generally results in starvation.
The NOAA Fisheries Service says the animal was the first marine fish to receive federal protection as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act in 2003. It is illegal to catch, harm, harass or kill an endangered sawfish.
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