Big Pine Key man faces felony after stone crab trap dispute

John Eric Madocks, 68, of Big Pine Key, faced a felony after a confrontation over a stone crab trap off Newfound Harbor Channel in the Lower Keys was caught on video and turned into an arrest investigation.

Authorities said Madocks was accused of trying to remove a commercial stone crab trap from the water, then claimed he was “deputized” to pull traps and had paperwork to prove it. Investigators later said he admitted removing the trap but insisted he had simply mixed up trap numbers.

The fisherman who confronted Madocks recorded the encounter, and that video became central to the case once it reached Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers. Investigators said a Facebook post helped tie Madocks to the incident after the victim alerted FWC to a comment that read, “I hate to say it but that is me.”

Under Florida law, willfully molesting any stone crab trap, line or buoy belonging to a licenseholder without permission is a third-degree felony. State law also says a commercial harvester convicted of theft of or from a trap can permanently lose saltwater fishing privileges, including licenses and endorsements.

The charges land in a fishery that matters far beyond one trap dispute. FWC says Florida’s stone crab fishery is the state’s third most valuable commercial fishery, with an average annual dockside value near $30 million, and it accounts for 99% of all stone crab landings in the United States.

For Keys harvesters, the season is still open. The 2025-26 stone crab season opened Oct. 15, 2025, and closes May 1, 2026, with traps due out by May 6. FWC says traps may be baited 10 days before the season opens, but they may not be tended until the season starts, and once the season begins they may only be worked during daylight hours.

State rules also require an unobstructed escape ring 2 3/16 inches in diameter in plastic or wood stone crab traps for the 2024-25 season and beyond. Commercial harvesters must have a Saltwater Products License, a Restricted Species endorsement and a Stone Crab endorsement. Recreational harvesters are limited to one gallon of claws per person or two gallons per vessel, whichever is less, and up to five traps per person.

FWC says its stone crab monitoring program began in 1988 and now includes sampling sites in the Florida Keys. The agency also says a 2011 stock assessment indicated the fishery had been overexploited since 1997, a reminder that even a single trap confrontation can land in a resource managers have watched closely for decades.