Panama City, Fla. — A charter and commercial fishing captain from Panama City has been sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to multiple shocking acts of violence against protected marine life, federal prosecutors announced.
Zachary Brandon Barfield was sentenced on May 21 to 30 days in prison, one year of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $51,000 fine after admitting to poisoning and shooting dolphins on three separate occasions. The case was prosecuted in the Northern District of Florida and investigated by the National Marine Fisheries Service Office of Law Enforcement, with assistance from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Barfield pleaded guilty to three counts of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, which prohibit the harming of marine mammals and the illegal use of toxic substances.
According to court documents, Barfield’s crimes stemmed from frustration over dolphins snatching red snapper off the lines of his fishing clients. Between June and August 2022, Barfield laced bait fish with methomyl — a powerful commercial insecticide — and used it to poison dolphins that approached his charter boat.
His violence escalated later that year. In December 2022, during another fishing trip, Barfield used a 12-gauge shotgun to fatally shoot a dolphin that surfaced near his vessel. Then, in the summer of 2023, while again captaining a charter trip, he fired at yet another dolphin that appeared near his clients’ lines.
“These deliberate acts of cruelty violated long-standing federal protections and posed serious threats to marine ecosystems,” said officials involved in the case. The Marine Mammal Protection Act, enacted in 1972, prohibits the harassment, hunting, capturing, or killing of marine mammals in U.S. waters and by U.S. citizens.
Senior Trial Attorney Patrick Duggan from the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Ravelo led the prosecution.
The case has sparked renewed concerns among conservationists about the treatment of marine wildlife and the challenges of enforcing laws on the open water.
Anyone witnessing harassment or harm to marine animals is urged to report the activity to NOAA’s enforcement hotline at 1-800-853-1964.
