A man was this morning fined $10,000 after being caught harvesting a protected species of sea snail.Carlos Moniz, 64, pleaded guilty when he appeared at Magistrates’ Court to collecting 544 West Indian Top Shells, a species of sea snail, in the Devonshire Bay area.According to Crown counsel Kristy-Ann Keillor, at around 11.35am on March 15, members of the public noticed that Moniz was collecting the creatures and warned him that what he was doing was illegal.Despite being told to stop and put the animals back, he continued, and so members of the public contacted the authorities.A short while later, Fisheries officials arrived and saw Moniz attempting to leave the area in a car. They stopped and searched the vehicle, finding two bags containing 544 West Indian Top Shells.The maximum penalty for collecting the species is a two-year period of imprisonment in addition to a fine of $25,000.Moniz apologised to the court, saying that he did not know the species was protected, but Ms Keillor told the court that not only had be been warned by the public, but signs were clearly visible in the area he was stopped.Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner fined Moniz $10,000 for the offence, but dismissed a second charge of spear fishing in connection with eleven crabs found in the defendant’s car.West Indian Top Shells, also known as Magpie Shells, wilks or whelks, are an edible species of sea snail that live throughout the Caribbean.While the species is also native to Bermuda, it was wiped out by over-consumption after the Island was colonised. Since then, there have been two efforts to reintroduce the species, one in 1902 and a second in 1982.