A South Florida boat captain faces mandatory court appearances after authorities caught him and his passengers fishing inside a protected Florida Keys marine sanctuary on Friday afternoon.
Jendys Machado Cardenas, 46, of Hialeah, was cited by Islamorada Marine Deputy Jason Farr at approximately 2 p.m. on June 19, 2026. Deputy Farr spotted Cardenas’s vessel tied to a mooring ball at the Hens and Chickens Reef, a designated Sanctuary Preservation Area (SPA) located off Plantation Key near Mile Marker 87.
According to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, multiple people on board the boat were actively rod-and-reel fishing as well as spearfishing in the prohibited Upper Keys zone. Investigators also noted that the vessel failed to display a dive flag while the electronic and spear-fishing activities were underway.
As the identified owner and operator of the boat, Cardenas was issued citations for fishing in an SPA and for allowing others to spearfish in a prohibited area while acting as the captain of the vessel…