OFF KENT ISLAND —— Officers have returned to the scene of the crime, where last year they pulled up miles of illegal nets filled with 12.6 tons of striped bass from the frigid waters off Kent Island.
This year they are armed with new weapons: side-scan sonar to detect underwater nets, new laws passed by the General Assembly that expand their authority and public sentiment that has demanded a halt to poaching of the state's signature fish.
"It was just a few bad apples, but they almost ruined it for everyone," said Natural Resources Police Cpl. Roy Rafter as he prepared to board a waterman's boat Wednesday near a spot known as Bloody Point.
The commercial season began Tuesday and will continue through February. Last year, the Department of Natural Resources closed the season three weeks early while biologists assessed the potential damage caused by poaching.
The threat of closing still hangs in the air.
Read the complete story and see the video at The Baltimore Sun.