CDFW: Red abalone poachers caught in the Bay Area, North Coast

(KRON) — California Department of Fish and Wildlife officials recently issued seven tickets to people poaching red abalone on the Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt county coasts.

“Coinciding with a series of very low tides, wildlife officers conducted an enhanced maximum enforcement patrol to protect red abalone, a fishery that has been closed since 2018 and will continue to be closed until at least 2026,” the CDFW said in a statement Monday.

During the patrol, wildlife officers also cited people for fishing violations not related to red abalone, drug possession and weapon violations.

“Great work by the CDFW law enforcement team to protect California’s marine resources,” CDFW said.

In 2017, the California Fish & Game Commission shut down recreational red abalone fishing indefinitely after a large number of abalone were found dead during an ocean survey. The declining red abalone population is the result of “extreme” environmental changes, the CDFW said.

The environmental issues affecting red abalone include rising ocean temperatures, toxic algae blooms, a spike in sea urchin populations and declining kelp forests.

“Abalone and sea urchins are both herbivores that depend on healthy kelp forest ecosystems for food and habitat,” the CDFW said in a statement issued in 2016. “With the recent loss of kelp and the ensuing starvation conditions, researchers have documented unusual behavior for both abalone and urchins. Large abalone are now more commonly observed climbing stalks in search of kelp blades, and small abalone have abandoned the protection of rocky crevices in search of food. Other invertebrates and fish species, such as rockfish, also depend on the shrinking kelp forest ecosystem for food and protection from predation.”