Recently, K9 Cramer joined New York Environmental Conservation Officers (ECOs) investigating an illegal fishing case in Nassau County.
ECOs Kochanowski and Macropoulos observed a fisherman catch an out-of-season blackfish under one of the bridges on the Wantagh Parkway, put it in a bag, and toss the bag down into the rocks. When the Officers approached, the angler appeared to be all packed up and leaving the area.
The ECOs were surprised the subject had no fish and only fishing equipment. After a hasty search of the area failed to uncover the poached fish, the Officers reached out to ECO DeRose to bring in K9 Cramer.
Cramer searched the area the subject was fishing, but focused on a nearby location. Officer DeRose expanded the search area and after getting to the opposite side of the bridge, Cramer quickly barreled through a large section of vegetation and alerted his handler. ECO DeRose moved in and discovered multiple black bags containing blackfish.
Officers ticketed the angler for keeping out-of-season blackfish and failing to release blackfish without undue harm, returnable to Nassau County First District Court.
To see a video of one of K9 Cramer’s training missions with his handler ECO DeRose, watch below:
