Free Republic

The following press release is courtesy of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife: Two Southern California men have been convicted and fined for abalone poaching and other resource crimes, stemming from a September 2015 California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) enforcement case. CDFW wildlife officers assigned to the patrol boat Thresherdiscovered the two men poaching abalone at Catalina Island. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office subsequently prosecuted both individuals. Hee Won Chai, 75, of Los Angeles was charged with taking and possessing six pink abalone. Chai pleaded no contest to all six poaching counts. He was ordered...

More waters from San Francisco to Mendocino off-limits in effort to restore delicious marine wildlife populationsB The State Fish and Wildlife Commission approved a plan to expand protected areas in the stretch of California coast from San Francisco to Mendocino and 3 miles out to sea. The new marine reserves will protect 20 percent more coastal areas from commercial fishing, in the hopes of restoring one of California's tastiest natural resources. Commercial fishermen wanted slightly fewer protected zones, and less strict restrictions on abalone diving. The abalone population in particular is threatened and in decline, but some recreational abalone diving...

UKIAH, California (AP) -- The Coast Guard has recovered the headless body of a diver who was killed by a shark off the Mendocino County coast. Randy Fry, 50, was attacked Sunday afternoon in shallow water near Westport while diving for abalone with a companion. Fry's body was recovered Monday; the companion escaped injury. A friend of Fry's estimated the shark was between 16 to 18 feet long.