By Jonah Ruddock
Are you tired of Floridians hogging the spotlight with their absurd crimes? Well, now we have a notably weird transgression from our very own state. The forty-year-old Joshua Seguine, known professionally as Aquatic Apex Life LLC, was fined five thousand dollars on March 17th for illegally keeping seven live sandbar sharks in a pool in his basement with the intention of selling them online. A search of his LaGrangeville home conducted by biologists from two nearby aquariums also uncovered two dead leopard sharks, one dead hammerhead shark, and the snout of a smalltooth sawfish. The surviving sharks were safely moved to the New York Aquarium at Coney Island, rescued from their fate of being sold on MonsterFishKeepers.com.
Sandbar sharks and smalltooth sawfish are both endangered species protected under New York Law, making them illegal to sell. Sandbar sharks, also known as brown sharks, live in the Atlantic Ocean. They have very low reproductive rates and populations can easily decline if they are overfished.
Seguine first came to the attention of the authorities in 2017, when he was driving in Georgia without a license– and with a tank in his trunk containing five undersized sharks. He admitted to an investigator that he had more back home and that he was planning to sell them. This information was given to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservatism, who obtained a warrant to his house. It is currently unknown how he obtained the sharks in the first place or how much they were going for online.
“Let this serve as a loud and clear message: We will not tolerate anyone who preys on protected species to line their pockets,” said state Attorney General Letitia James. Seguine’s inhumane treatment and illegal trafficking of endangered species is no joke, but unfortunately he is not special. Owning sharks and other exotic fish has become a status symbol among wealthy athletes, actors, and other celebrities, creating a market for private shark sellers who often break the law by selling protected species. Many are sold to people who don’t have an adequate setup to properly care for them. Given the ostensibly lucrative trade that is shark selling, unfortunately Seguine’s five thousand dollar fine might not be punishment enough to keep him out of the business.
