For Want of a Grouper

Prosecutors charge a fisherman for throwing one back in the water.

We knew the sprawling reach of Sarbanes-Oxley would eventually regulate untold corners of the Earth, but the law has now officially gone under water. This fiasco of government overreach is in the hands of the Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments Wednesday about whether a fisherman can be prosecuted for “shredding” a fish in Yates v. U.S.

John Yates is the captain of the Miss Katie who was trying to hook grouper in the Gulf of Mexico in 2007. His boat was pulled over and inspected by a Florida Fish and Wildlife Commissioner who determined that the boat’s haul of some 3,000 fish included 72 undersized fish that didn’t meet the federal requirement of 20 inches for grouper.

When Mr. Yates brought his boat to shore, federal agents counted only 69 offending fish; three were missing and unaccounted for. The discrepancy spawned an investigation by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which hypothesized that the undersized fish had been thrown back into the water in an attempt to destroy evidence.

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