MARATHON -- A Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission officer made a big discovery over the weekend: nearly 800 spiny lobster tails, most undersized, hidden in a small compartment of a hot, roach-ridden boat cabin in the Florida Keys.

''The guys who have been here for 20 years said it's one of the biggest cases they've ever seen,'' said Officer Jill Izsak, who has worked in the Keys just two months. ``They said I probably will never experience another one like this in my career.''

Capt. Roberto Beltran, 57, and Benito Estepe, 66, both of Carol City, and Leonardo Cancio, 56, of Boot Key, were arrested and taken to Marathon jail, charged with two felonies and several state fishing violations.

The charges: trap molesting, grand theft, undersized catch and wrung lobster tails on the water, meaning the edible tails were separated from the discarded bodies before the boat reached shore.

The undersized haul: 711 lobster tails, 17 live lobsters, eight stone crab claws, one hogfish and one mutton snapper.

The men each face up to five years in prison, a $5,000 fine and forfeiture of the 40-foot fishing boat, Kristal, which was seized as evidence, FWC spokesman Bobby Dube said.

Over the past few years, trap robbing and illegal fishing have become an increasing problem in the Keys due to the growing economic struggles of commercial fishermen and the cutback of law enforcement to patrol the thousands of square miles of water, said Scott Zimmerman, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen's Association.

SOME NEW TRICKS

''But there have been several cases made in recent months, like the Dreifort case, that I know are serving as deterrents,'' Zimmerman said. ``Law enforcement seems to have a few new tricks up their sleeves.''

In September, David Dreifort of Cudjoe Key was charged with placing artificial lobster habitats in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and stockpiling about 6,000 lobster tails in advance of the opening of the state's commercial lobster season.

Federal prosecutors called Dreifort one of the most prolific lobster poachers in the nation.

Dube said the FWC's new patrol boat, the Marathon-based Seahawk, which has triple engines, has helped. But with less patrol time, due in large part to fuel restrictions, the agency has had to get creative to make illegal fishing cases.

Two weeks ago, a fishing boat returned to Stock Island with 181 lobster tails stuffed in blue jeans.

''Our boat jumped out of a hiding hole and got to him before he could dump the blue jeans overboard,'' Dube said.

On Friday, FWC officers arrested Lazaro Echevarria, 22, and Wilfredo Echevarria, 18, of Homestead, on several charges, including robbing 10 stone crab claws from a private trap, a third-degree felony. The brothers, on a personal watercraft in the Upper Keys, were spotted by a FWC officer using binoculars from shore.

Zimmerman said every case is important, no matter the size of the illegal catch.

''It's vital that we bust these poachers to protect the professional fleet,'' Zimmerman said. ``It's also vital to protect the resource. Those undersized animals that were harvested as juveniles didn't get a chance to spawn and enhance the local stock or enhance the overall lobster populations.''

SPOTTED FROM AIR

The case in Marathon began when FWC pilot John Murphy, patrolling by air, spotted a commercial fishing boat pulling traps with buoy colors of aqua and white. The buoy colors assigned to the vessel were orange and white.

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