Gulf fishery council honors FWC’s Northwest OPV team
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council presented the 2023 Law Enforcement Officer/Team of the Year award to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Northwest Offshore Patrol Vessel team.
The team consists of Lt. Scott Smith, Senior Officers Matt Cushing and Pete Rockwell, Officer Specialists Tom Nelson, Matt Land, Greg Matechik, and Officer Tristan Hartzog.
The Council’s Team/Officer of the Year award acknowledges service above and beyond duty requirements and recognizes distinguished service, professionalism, and dedication to enforcing federal fishing regulations in the Gulf of Mexico.
Nominees may be submitted from each of the five Gulf State Law Enforcement agencies, the U.S. Coast Guard, and NOAA Fisheries’ Office for Law Enforcement.
The Northwest OPV Team plays a crucial role in federal fisheries patrols, tackling multi-day missions at sea, conducting radiological detection patrols, and providing essential support for extended search and rescue operations. Their work spans extended deployments for public safety, disaster response, community outreach, and boating safety.
In 2023, the team spent over 10,000 hours on water patrol, including nearly 500 hours dedicated specifically to federal fisheries. They issued 383 state citations and initiated 71 federal cases, all while fulfilling their regular duties, such as hunting enforcement and out-of-state response missions.
“The team wholeheartedly embraces the agency’s core missions and priority patrols. They are highly flexible and able to focus their patrols where they will be most beneficial to the resource and the public,” said Major Robby Creech with FWC. “The squad truly has a passion for the outdoors. Whether it’s 80 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico, or far back in the woods waiting on a hunter to show. I am truly proud to work alongside every member of this team.”
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.