Man’s conch chowder craving ends in Florida Keys arrest, sheriff’s office says

A man who wanted to make conch chowder ended up in handcuffs in the Florida Keys, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said.

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Geoffrey Leigh Blatt was diving near Mile Marker 40 on Friday afternoon when he told another diver that he was going to take queen conch home to make conch chowder, the sheriff’s office said. A Lower Keys marine deputy overheard and spotted him exiting the water with two live queen conch.

Blatt, 69, of Overland Park, Kansas, was arrested for possessing two conch and taken to jail, the sheriff’s office said. He doesn’t have an attorney listed yet.

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The queen conch cannot be harvested in Florida or adjacent federal waters, In 1975, commercial fishing was closed due to overfishing. This ban was extended to recreational fishing in state waters in 1985.

While conch is a popular menu item in South Florida, all conch meat served in restaurants must be imported from the Caribbean and South America.

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This story was originally published October 11, 2026 at 2:31 PM.