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State law allows the harvest of three abalone a day, 24 in a year. Four Sacramento-area men are accused of collecting 26, half of them legally undersized and illegally harvested at night in Mendocino County.
Wardens spotted the men wearing headlamps and wetsuits at Moat Creek Point – a popular abalone harvesting spot – between 1 and 4 a.m. Thursday, according to a report provided by department spokesman Patrick Foy.
It is illegal to harvest abalone at night.
The men returned to their car wearing wetsuits and backpacks, then drove away with no lights on, the report said.
Fish and Game wardens stopped the car and found a total of 26 abalone, Foy said. State law allows harvesting by individuals with recreational fishing licenses, but prohibits people from taking more than three abalone per day.
Also, 13 of the abalone had shells smaller than the legal limit, Foy said.
"This is not an issue of 'I didn't know,' or something like that," Foy said. "It's very, very much an indicator of intent when you're abalone diving between 1 and 4 in the morning, sneaking around with red lights."
The suspects are Jerry Sayrham, 29; Nai Choy Saelee, 26; Alounseng Thong Rasabout, 25; and Jackson Soukasene, 26.
All four men were booked into the Mendocino County Jail in Ukiah, Foy said.
Saelee posted bail, according to the Mendocino jail. He could not be reached for comment.
The meat of abalone – a large sea snail – is a delicacy, while the iridescent shell is often used in jewelry.
Harvesting abalone with a recreational license and then selling it is banned. But abalone sell for $100 or more each on the black market, according to a Department of Fish and Game release.
Steve Lackey, who has given abalone diving tours in Mendocino County for 20 years, said there is evidence that a "substantial amount" of poaching is going on in the area.
"There's little off-the-track coves, where we see abalone stacked on top of one another's backs," Lackey said. "And then you go back in two years and there's hardly an abalone there. And you know that wasn't natural, and it wasn't recreational diving."
Lackey also said he often sees discarded piles of abalone shells, evidence that a diver has shucked the abalone meat underwater.
Meanwhile, legal harvesting in Mendocino and Sonoma counties has increased in recent years to an "unsustainable rate," the Fish and Game release said.
Anyone with a recreational license can take up to three abalone per day and up to 24 per year. The abalone's shell must be at least 7 inches long, and each abalone taken must be identified with a tag, which denotes the date, time and location of the abalone harvest.
The four suspects did not tag their abalone, Foy said.
In Mendocino County's Moat Creek area alone, 14,000 abalone have been taken over the past two years – double the harvest of only a few years ago, the release said.
As a result, the Department of Fish and Game, as well as Mendocino County, have increased their efforts to crack down on abalone poaching. Mendocino County now has "some of the most aggressive anti-poaching prosecutors in California," the release said.
Last month, a Mendocino County judge sentenced three men to jail time for poaching abalone while they were on probation for the same offense, the release said.
Two of the men – Christopher Michael Kern, 27, and Philip Michael Horch, 27 – were from the Sacramento area. Both received at least 180 days in jail, as well as a $20,000 fine and a lifetime prohibition from fishing in California, the release said.
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