State Marine Unit Patrols Fairfield County Waters

"Reel 'em up guys, we're coming in," said Officer William Logiodice, approaching a small boat bobbing near a rocky shoal.

The two fishermen are trolling for blackfish, or scup. Logiodice and Officer Jeffrey Samorajczyk ask the men for identification. The men have none. No drivers license, no boater registration, no fishing license.

Nothing.

"Neither has any identification, they're probably illegal aliens," Samorajczyk said. "But unless there is a boatload of illegals they [federal officers] don't want us to call them."

Samaorajeczyk runs the name. Oscar reportedly has a probation officer, and was actually deported once upon a time.

In addition, the two men have 18 just barely legal-sized scup, or porgy. The legal limit is 10 per person. The officers return the fish and order the men home. If they don't pay the fines, $87 for no license, $120 for no boating license warrants for their arrest will go out.

"If they were way above the limit, and had say more than 100 then we know they're trying to sell them and that's not allowed," Logiodice said.

Logiodice and his partner Officer Jeffrey Samorajczyk patrol the waters of Long Island Sound for illegal activity. They serve with the Marine Division of the Connecticut State Department of Environmental Conservation, or EnCon for short.

Like all EnCon officers, Samorajczyk and Logiodice enforce state fish and game laws and regulations. They prevent poaching and over harvesting of fish and shellfish in state waters – including Fairfield, Westport, Stamford, Greenwich and Darien. In addition they enforce recreational boating safety and enforcement.

But few people understand this special division and what they do.  Some mistake them for park rangers. Others believe they're are an armed offshoot of Greenpeace.

"Most people don't know about us. They don't know we're here," said Samorajczyk, an 11-year veteran of the force.

From the waters off Westport to the woods of Wilton these officers walk the thin green line of environmental conservation and law enforcement.

Moored at South Benson Marina in Fairfield, the partners drive a 42' Wesmac Commercial fisheries patrol vessel named "The Guardian." It has all weather capability for enforcement and search and rescue missions.

In 2009 the unit investigated 68 boating accidents. It reconstructs boats and boat accidents.

These officers are also tasked to the Department of Homeland Security. They regularly check the ports of New Haven, New London, Bridgeport and Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in Milford.

During training recruits are roused from their bunks all hours of the night for drills which include firearms instruction, ice rescue, maneuvering boats, ATVs and snowmobiles, as well as how to operate during a chemical or biological spill.  The also train with reptiles.

"Yesterday we had reptile training, we had to handle rattlesnakes," Samorajczyk said.

Wildlife smuggling rakes in about $10 billion a year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. As deputy special agents of said service these officers must remain vigilant. Earlier this month the officers seized two alligators during a drug bust.  In a separate incident a man turned in his illegal caiman lizard.

Conservation officers have a long history, starting in New York state. After Theodore Roosevelt became governor it became a force to be reckoned with. These "Men of Courage" as Roosevelt called them had to have experience with "gun and rod."

Now on this sun-drenched September day the officers spot a shellfisherman working a transplant bed off the coast of Bridgeport.

After hauling clams from the sea floor the fisherman will plant them on another bed, in perhaps Westport. Clean water must purge the shellfish before they can go to market, said Samorajczyk.

"We have to do a certain number of checks to be in compliance with federal regulations. If we don't that can hurt the shellfish industry," said Samorajczyk.

Local municipal shellfish commissions lease about 12,000 acres to shell fishermen. The revenue from those leases equals about $1 million in annual revenue for the state, said David Carey said Director of the Bureau of Aquaculture for the Connecticut Department of Agriculture.

In June, shellfish beds opened for the first time in five years in Fairfield after officials determined the water quality off Sasco Beach improved.

In Westport, Conservation Director Alicia Mozian recently announced the adoption of a clam transplant program to help restore the Saugatuck River bottom to promote the natural growth of seed oysters.

"There are more than 70,000 acres of shellfish farms under cultivation," Carey said.

In 2009 the Marine Unit performed 2,423 shellfish bed checks in 24 towns. The number of checks per bed varies. For example, Greenwich and Stamford are inspected eight times a month, while Bridgeport is inspected four times a month.

Often called the "no-fun police", some people regard them as nature's nanny.  They're the ones who tell people to slow down their speedboats on a late summer day, board lobster boats, or return too-small fish to the sea.

"What are you guys doing? Scaring the fish?" asked three men in a boat near Fairfield. They held up an empty bucket for Logiodice and Samorajczyk to inspect.

An empty bucket doesn't mean an empty boat.

"You check under the seats for stash, Last week, Bill pulled about 170 from under a seat. They'll sell them for $1 a piece by the side of the road," Samorajczyk said. "You look for telltale signs, slime, blood."