131 suspected abalone poachers cited on North Coast
11 people arrested during four-day operation
By GLENDA ANDERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Friday, May 29, 2009 at 12:19 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, May 29, 2009 at 8:11 p.m.
Eleven suspected abalone poachers were jailed and another 131 people were cited and released during a four-day enforcement operation along the Sonoma and Mendocino coasts.
?This was a very aggressive effort and it paid off in a big way,? California Department of Fish and Game spokesman Patrick Foy said Friday.
Several hundred abalone were seized during the operation, including 166 of the protected mollusks from the 11 men and women arrested near Caspar in Mendocino County, he said.
The 11 people who were arrested are suspected of working together, he said.
Their names were not available Friday. Two were from Chicago, two were from Los Angeles and the rest were Bay Area residents, Foy said.
They will be charged with felony conspiracy to harvest abalone for commercial purposes.
Under state law, when someone is caught with more than 12 abalone, it is assumed the abalone is intended for commercial sales, Foy said.
Game officials watched as the suspects, working in groups, would catch, hide and then transport the abalone.
They took mostly undersized abalone from the ocean at low tide and then hid them in tall grass on the beach.
The abalone were later picked up by a van and taken to a hotel for storage.
Officials confiscated 50 abalone from the van. Another 79 were seized from a motel in Caspar, south of Fort Bragg.
Each abalone can fetch up to $100 on the black market.
Divers are legally allowed three abalone per day. The annual total is 24.
Foy said the enforcement operation included about 18 wardens. It was conducted because of the low tides over the weekend.
?It brings abalone divers out in droves,? Foy said.
Of the citations issued during the operation, some were for exceeding the abalone limit while others were for taking undersized abalone or failing to fill out the required reporting cards, he said.
The wardens camped out at chilly Fort Ross during the operation because of the state budget cuts, he said.
?It's a sad state of affairs, but we're not giving up,? Foy said.
11 people arrested during four-day operation
By GLENDA ANDERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Published: Friday, May 29, 2009 at 12:19 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, May 29, 2009 at 8:11 p.m.
Eleven suspected abalone poachers were jailed and another 131 people were cited and released during a four-day enforcement operation along the Sonoma and Mendocino coasts.
?This was a very aggressive effort and it paid off in a big way,? California Department of Fish and Game spokesman Patrick Foy said Friday.
Several hundred abalone were seized during the operation, including 166 of the protected mollusks from the 11 men and women arrested near Caspar in Mendocino County, he said.
The 11 people who were arrested are suspected of working together, he said.
Their names were not available Friday. Two were from Chicago, two were from Los Angeles and the rest were Bay Area residents, Foy said.
They will be charged with felony conspiracy to harvest abalone for commercial purposes.
Under state law, when someone is caught with more than 12 abalone, it is assumed the abalone is intended for commercial sales, Foy said.
Game officials watched as the suspects, working in groups, would catch, hide and then transport the abalone.
They took mostly undersized abalone from the ocean at low tide and then hid them in tall grass on the beach.
The abalone were later picked up by a van and taken to a hotel for storage.
Officials confiscated 50 abalone from the van. Another 79 were seized from a motel in Caspar, south of Fort Bragg.
Each abalone can fetch up to $100 on the black market.
Divers are legally allowed three abalone per day. The annual total is 24.
Foy said the enforcement operation included about 18 wardens. It was conducted because of the low tides over the weekend.
?It brings abalone divers out in droves,? Foy said.
Of the citations issued during the operation, some were for exceeding the abalone limit while others were for taking undersized abalone or failing to fill out the required reporting cards, he said.
The wardens camped out at chilly Fort Ross during the operation because of the state budget cuts, he said.
?It's a sad state of affairs, but we're not giving up,? Foy said.
