A man was fined $10,000 in Magistrates’ Court yesterday after he was caught harvesting a protected species of sea snail.Carlos Moniz, 64, pleaded guilty to one count of collecting 544 West Indian top shells, a species of sea snail in the Devonshire Bay area and creating, in the words of Crown counsel Kirsty-Ann Kiellor, a mile long “dead zone”.He also pleaded guilty to a second charge of spearfishing within one nautical mile of shore. West Indian top shells, also known as Magpie shells, wilks or whelks, are an edible species of sea snail found in the Caribbean. The species is also native to Bermuda but was wiped out by overfishing after the Island was colonised. Since then, there have been two efforts to reintroduce the species, one in 1902 and a second in 1982.Ms Kiellor said members of the public noticed Moniz collecting the creatures around 11.35am on March 15.They warned him that what he was doing was illegal.Despite being told to stop and put the animals back, he continued collecting them. Members of the public then contacted authorities. A short while later, Fisheries officials arrived and saw Moniz attempting to leave the area in a car. They found two bags with the snails inside.They also discovered 11 Sally Lightfoot crabs, which appeared to have been speared. The recovered sea snails were taken to the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo where they were photographed before the surviving snails were released back into the wild.Ms Kiellor said the extent of the harvesting was beyond anything environmental officers had seen before. The maximum penalty for collecting the species is two years in prison and a $25,000 fine. A person caught spearfishing within one nautical mile of the shore can be jailed for a year and fined a maximum of $25,000.Moniz apologised to the court, saying that he did not know the species was protected.Ms Kiellor said he was not only warned by the public, but signs saying not to collect the shells were clearly visible in the area. Moniz said he had not actually speared the crabs, but used a wire to pull them out of rocks.Head Fisheries warden John Edmonds told the court that spearfishing is illegal close to shore for two reasons to discourage sharks from coming close to shore, and to prevent targeted animals from being injured.“In the practice of taking lobster or fish by spear, if you try and miss or graze and injure them and they escape, then you kill them for no reason,” he explained. Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner fined Moniz $10,000 for the sea snails. He discharged the spearfishing offence, saying: “I don’t think the injuring of crabs is the same as injuring lobster.”The magistrate also expressed doubt that the piece of wire used could be considered a spear.