It’s not often that lobsters are the target of rescue missions.
But when five fishermen were caught illegally poaching lobsters off the Goleta pier in the weeks leading up to the start of the spiny lobster season on October 2, wildlife officers intervened, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) announced in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
During the last two weeks before the start of the season, CDFW officers “were patrolling and looking for those who disregard wildlife laws.” It is a crime to catch lobsters, especially those that are under the legal size, outside of the open season. A lobster must be at least 3.25 inches in length to legally take it to ensure it had the chance to mature and breed before being harvested.
Officers caught the Goleta pier poachers disregarding these laws, the CDFW said. The CDFW’s allegations start with one subject who was caught pulling a hoop net onto the pier and loading lobsters into a cooler. This subject was caught with five lobsters — four of which were undersized.
The next evening, the same officer found a different subject doing the exact same thing in the same place. That subject was caught with 10 lobsters — eight of which were undersized.
Then, the following week, another team of wildlife officers watched as three different groups of suspects on the Goleta pier took lobsters from hoop nets and bagged them. Each was found in possession of lobsters, ranging from 2 to 13 lobsters each, and many of which were smaller than the legal limit. One subject had six additional lobsters hidden in his vehicle, all of which were smaller than the legal size.
Doing the math revealed “Wildlife officers seized 28 lobsters between the three groups, 16 of which were smaller than the legal size,” CDFW said.
Ironically, the lobsters escaped the cage. Their captors were not so lucky.
Overall, officers arrested five subjects for violations that included the take of lobster out of season, the take of undersized lobster, and possessing over-limits of lobster, the CDFW said.
“All the lobsters were returned to the ocean alive where law-abiding fishermen and women now have the opportunity to catch them,” the CDFW said.
Commenters on the post recounted their own experiences witnessing illegal lobster-catching. Some shamed the poachers, others thanked the CDFW for catching them. “Get em!” wrote one. “So happy to see you guys out and about,” wrote another. “A lobster card costs about $13 and the measuring tool costs about $4. There’s absolutely NO excuse not to do this the right way.”
