For years, Zackary Barfield of Panama City, Fla., made his living on the Gulf of Mexico guiding fishing charters, often with dolphins trailing close behind, riding the boat’s wake. But when the dolphins began stealing red snapper from his clients’ lines, prosecutors say, the longtime captain turned predator.
Between 2022 and 2023, Mr. Barfield laced baitfish with pesticide and shot at dolphins from his boat, doing so once in front of “two elementary-aged children,” the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Florida said on Friday in a statement.
Mr. Barfield, 31, was sentenced this week to 30 days in prison and fined $51,000 for three counts of poisoning and shooting dolphins, violating both the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, according to federal prosecutors.
His sentence will be followed by one year of supervised release. Mr. Barfield pleaded guilty to the charges on Feb. 12, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said Mr. Barfield understood the harm of the pesticide he used — methomyl — but fed it to dolphins anyway. Exposure to methomyl can disrupt the nervous system of humans and mammals. The Environmental Protection Agency restricts its use to management of plant and soil-borne insects in farming.
“He knew the regulations protecting dolphins, yet he killed them anyway — once in front of children,” said Adam Gustafson, an acting assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s environment and natural resources division.
Mr. Barfield’s lawyer, Nathan Prince, declined to comment on Sunday.
The investigation into Mr. Barfield began in 2023, after a special agent at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s fisheries division was tipped off about a fisherman killing bottlenose dolphins, the agency said in a statement on Friday.
Using a 12-gauge shotgun, Mr. Barfield shot at least five dolphins, with one confirmed killed. One of the shootings happened on a charter vessel with multiple witnesses on board, according to NOAA.
The poisonings most likely resulted in many more deaths, the authorities said.
“Based on evidence obtained in the course of the investigation, Barfield fed an estimated 24–70 dolphins poison-laden baitfish on charter trips that he captained,” NOAA said. “Barfield stated he was ‘frustrated with dolphins “stealing” his catch.’”
Along the southeast coast, the tension between anglers and dolphins is a longstanding, well-known struggle, NOAA said.
From 2014 to 2024, at least 21 dolphins were killed by gunshot wounds, arrows, explosives and other sharp objects, according to NOAA data. Officials said that figure is most likely a severe undercount.
Mark Walker is an investigative reporter focused on transportation. He is based in Washington.
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