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Charged with bagging 110 'shorts,' lobstermen long for leniency
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 22, 2002
Two commercial lobstermen were having a dream day on the water as they checked their traps Monday off Dana Point.
By day's end, the two had fetched 116 trapped lobsters, a fine day's work. The market value of the catch was $500 to $1,000 or more, depending on how the two sold the catch. Live lobsters have a market value of between $7 and $11 a pound.
But there was a sizable problem with this catch. Department of Fish and Game wardens received a tip about possible lobster poaching going on around Dana Point. They investigated, went undercover and watched the two fishermen work all day.
The wardens, from the patrol boat Thresher and led by Lt. Marty Maytorena, were in plainclothes and spied through binoculars and a spotting scope as the lobstermen pulled and checked their traps. Straightaway, the wardens noticed a problem.
Commercial fishermen usually throw back about five "shorts" for every legal lobster they keep. Undersized lobsters are less than 31/2 inches from the rear edge of the eye socket to the rear edge of the body shell. These guys only threw five back in the ocean all day, wardens said.
Wardens watched as the two fishermen hustled back to the dock and unloaded all of the lobsters into their vehicle.
Maytorena and the other wardens stopped them and inspected their catch. Of the 116 lobsters the men took from their traps, wardens said 110 were shorts.
Cited were: licensed lobsterman Harvey Gonzalez, 30, of San Juan Capistrano and deckhand Roddy Giacomini, 25, of Vista. They were charged with possession of undersized lobsters and failure to complete logbooks and other documents about their catch. The men face significant fines, loss of commercial fishing license and possible jail time. Each violation is a misdemeanor and subject to a maximum fine of $1,000 and/or six months in jail. Their maximum fine would be $110,000 for all 110 undersized lobsters in possession.
Maytorena and the other wardens said they couldn't recall a more blatant abuse of lobster regulations or seeing this many short lobsters in a catch. But the best part of the story is that the wardens released alive all but four of the undersized lobsters. Four were kept for evidence.
Lobsters need five to six years to grow just 21/2 inches in body shell length. It takes seven to 11 years for a lobster to reach legal size.
If Gonzalez loses his commercial fishing license, it will be a huge loss. The lobster fishery is a restrictive one and has operated with a limited entry program since the 1990s, plus there's a moratorium on the issuance of new permits. There are approximately 225 licensed fishermen.
By Ed Zieralski, San Diego UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
November 22, 2002
Two commercial lobstermen were having a dream day on the water as they checked their traps Monday off Dana Point.
By day's end, the two had fetched 116 trapped lobsters, a fine day's work. The market value of the catch was $500 to $1,000 or more, depending on how the two sold the catch. Live lobsters have a market value of between $7 and $11 a pound.
But there was a sizable problem with this catch. Department of Fish and Game wardens received a tip about possible lobster poaching going on around Dana Point. They investigated, went undercover and watched the two fishermen work all day.
The wardens, from the patrol boat Thresher and led by Lt. Marty Maytorena, were in plainclothes and spied through binoculars and a spotting scope as the lobstermen pulled and checked their traps. Straightaway, the wardens noticed a problem.
Commercial fishermen usually throw back about five "shorts" for every legal lobster they keep. Undersized lobsters are less than 31/2 inches from the rear edge of the eye socket to the rear edge of the body shell. These guys only threw five back in the ocean all day, wardens said.
Wardens watched as the two fishermen hustled back to the dock and unloaded all of the lobsters into their vehicle.
Maytorena and the other wardens stopped them and inspected their catch. Of the 116 lobsters the men took from their traps, wardens said 110 were shorts.
Cited were: licensed lobsterman Harvey Gonzalez, 30, of San Juan Capistrano and deckhand Roddy Giacomini, 25, of Vista. They were charged with possession of undersized lobsters and failure to complete logbooks and other documents about their catch. The men face significant fines, loss of commercial fishing license and possible jail time. Each violation is a misdemeanor and subject to a maximum fine of $1,000 and/or six months in jail. Their maximum fine would be $110,000 for all 110 undersized lobsters in possession.
Maytorena and the other wardens said they couldn't recall a more blatant abuse of lobster regulations or seeing this many short lobsters in a catch. But the best part of the story is that the wardens released alive all but four of the undersized lobsters. Four were kept for evidence.
Lobsters need five to six years to grow just 21/2 inches in body shell length. It takes seven to 11 years for a lobster to reach legal size.
If Gonzalez loses his commercial fishing license, it will be a huge loss. The lobster fishery is a restrictive one and has operated with a limited entry program since the 1990s, plus there's a moratorium on the issuance of new permits. There are approximately 225 licensed fishermen.
