Stoppd by the DFG

[dsafety]

I launched at LJ this morning for the first time in nearly four months. I am recovering from an Achilles Tendon tear and finally feel strong enough to get back on the water. This was my first trip to La Jolla since the new MPA boundaries went into effect.

The first thing that I noticed when I reached the buoy line was that there were at least 50 lobster traps set within the newly expanded MPA. I asked some guys on the water if this was new and was told that they have been there all season. This pissed me off.

Like most people familiar with the MLPA fiasco, I am angry about what has come to pass and am hopeful that clearer thinking and lawsuits will eventually result in a more reasonable plan. In the mean time, I will do my best to follow the new laws, (although without any clearly marked boundaries, this will be difficult). The fact that some commercial lobster fishers appear to be thumbing their noses at the new regs angers me as well. So much so that while on the water, I called the DFG to report the violations.

I waded through a bunch of phone menus and spoke to four humans before my contact information was taken. I was told that a warden would call me. Yeah, right. I never got the call.

I spent a beautiful day on the water fishing at times with some old friends and some new ones. Please do not confuse fishing with catching. Today was not my day but I saw at least five pods of whales up close and personal. That was worth the trip.

On the way back to shore, I noticed a large Zodiac heading towards me. It was a DFG boat with two very nice wardens aboard. My first thought was that they had been dispatched to check out my observations about the illegal lobster traps. Nope, they were on a regular patrol checking for fishing licenses and inspecting the day's catch. In the 45 years that I have been fishing with a license, this is only the second time that I have been asked to produce one.

They checked me out and were ready to leave when I mentioned my call about the lobster traps. They said that they had heard about the call but knew nothing more. They had not been asked to check out the problem. At my urging, they went to the buoy line to see what I had reported.

A while later they pulled up alongside again and informed me that all the lobster traps were outside the reserve. Given that most of these traps were about a half mile inside the new MPA, I questioned them about where they thought the reserve boundary was. To my amazement, the told me that the reserve ended at the buoy line and that this was what was programed into their GPS units.

Incredulous, I explained to these guys that the rules had changed. I also told them that if it was their intention to only enforce the pre-2012 boundaries, I would be a happy camper.

They huddled together and called their headquarters. A few minutes later, they sped off back to the offending lobster traps. When I reached them a few minutes later, they thanked me for giving them the heads up. Apparently the guys in the field have not yet all been given their new marching orders.

Their next statement almost made me fall out of my yak. They told me that they had taken down the numbers from the fifty or so buoys that had been set inside the reserve. They would give those numbers to their administrative folks who would "mail the trap owners a letter telling them that they were in violation". If the traps were not moved in a reasonable time, they would issue citations.

I wonder what a "reasonable time" is? I further wonder what would have happened to the poor fisherman who had unwittingly wandered into one of the newly closed, (and unmarked) areas. I bet that fisherman would have gotten a ticket on the spot.

Now I am not ragging on the DFG. The guys I met were very nice and were just doing their jobs. I am a little disappointed that that these guys, (and presumably many other wardens), were not as well informed about the new regulations as a myself, who has been sitting on land, mending a bad leg for the last four months.

As for the lobster fishermen who set their traps in the expanded reserve, I have no sympathy. I hope that they ignore their very generous warnings and have all their gear confiscated. All commercial lobster fishermen have GPS systems to help them figure out where to set their traps. These guys have no excuse for not knowing where the legal grounds are. They are poachers pure and simple. I hope that they get taught a very painful lesson.

Bob

[deepdvr]

Great.......now the commercial guys are going to be running us down as one of our own is ratting them out.

[Aaron]

Wow, after countless hours fighting, countless dollars spent, and a heartbreaking battle, one of our own takes it upon himself to make sure that these things are being strictly enforced? I mean, making REALLY sure that they are being enforced. dsafety, you're a nice guy, nothing personal, but I definitely don't agree with you on this one.

[tyler82]

Right on Dsafety...I totally agree with you on this one. Do I agree with the MPA and all of the restrictions that come with it...no. But it is what stops the poachers and conserves our natural resources and the animals that live within it.

[dorado50]

Originally Posted by tyler82

Right on Dsafety...I totally agree with you on this one. Do I agree with the MPA and all of the restrictions that come with it...no. But it is what stops the poachers and conserves our natural resources and the animals that live within it.

[Aaron&Julie]

I gotta say this doesn't sound right.
#1 If you're talking about the south buoys of the cove near the point that cuts towards the Big Hotel (Condo), that area is NOT off limits once you get out of the old reserve. Only the northern buoys of the cove before Scripps pier is now an MLPA area, but you can still catch bait legally.
#2 Since most of us fishermen believe the MLPA is wrong, I don't think it's in our best interest to get the DFG working on all the legalities of this issue, and monitoring these "crazy" MLPA borders. Yes, that bust up in Laguna was a great one, but not because it was in an MLPA area, but ONLY because they had no licenses, no lobster cards and had 40 or more short lobsters. It truly wasn't about the MLPA but about poaching that would be illegal no matter where they did it.
#3 The DFG will get plenty of support from the enviro "whackos" who brought about the MLPA, I don't think any fishermen who believes the MLPA is WRONG, should be helping them do their "duties". Commercial fishermen were fighting for open waters along with Sport fishermen. If indeed some commercial traps were in an MLPA area, and those guys didn't break any other laws, i.e. short bugs, over-limit of bugs, etc, I'm not going to be the one to rat them out for what I know in my heart is a wrong closure. I doubt these were dudes like the assholes up north, who broke countless laws.
#4 So you want the DFG out there patrolling, making sure no one crosses these MLPA boundries, huh? Great, now that you've alerted them they are on everybody like stink on S&$#!. So, you hook that yellow (+50lbs) of a lifetime, he tows you a 1/4 mile into an MLPA area, and since you've got the DFG on their toes now, they spot you and tell you, that you can't land that fish, because you are in an unauthorized area. It could happen.

Just my 2 cents, but I don't think you're going to get too many people here giving you kudos. But, maybe I'm wrong.

On another note, Julie and I went to our "clamming beach", and we got double limits. Funny thing, it was on a Thursday (yesterday), where no other fishermen were even around, but a DFG guy drove up, checked our licenses, and the 3 clams we had at the time. No worries here, we weren't breaking any laws. But, for an organization that is badly undermanned, we found it odd, that on a weekday, with no fishing going on around us, they had enough personnel to check on a couple of "clammers". Hmmph!?!
Aaron

[Billy V]

Originally Posted by dsafety

I launched at LJ this morning for the first time in nearly four months. I am recovering from an Achilles Tendon tear and finally feel strong enough to get back on the water. This was my first trip to La Jolla since the new MPA boundaries went into effect.

The first thing that I noticed when I reached the buoy line was that there were at least 50 lobster traps set within the newly expanded MPA. I asked some guys on the water if this was new and was told that they have been there all season. This pissed me off.

Like most people familiar with the MLPA fiasco, I am angry about what has come to pass and am hopeful that clearer thinking and lawsuits will eventually result in a more reasonable plan. In the mean time, I will do my best to follow the new laws, (although without any clearly marked boundaries, this will be difficult). The fact that some commercial lobster fishers appear to be thumbing their noses at the new regs angers me as well. So much so that while on the water, I called the DFG to report the violations.

I waded through a bunch of phone menus and spoke to four humans before my contact information was taken. I was told that a warden would call me. Yeah, right. I never got the call.

I spent a beautiful day on the water fishing at times with some old friends and some new ones. Please do not confuse fishing with catching. Today was not my day but I saw at least five pods of whales up close and personal. That was worth the trip.

On the way back to shore, I noticed a large Zodiac heading towards me. It was a DFG boat with two very nice wardens aboard. My first thought was that they had been dispatched to check out my observations about the illegal lobster traps. Nope, they were on a regular patrol checking for fishing licenses and inspecting the day's catch. In the 45 years that I have been fishing with a license, this is only the second time that I have been asked to produce one.

They checked me out and were ready to leave when I mentioned my call about the lobster traps. They said that they had heard about the call but knew nothing more. They had not been asked to check out the problem. At my urging, they went to the buoy line to see what I had reported.

A while later they pulled up alongside again and informed me that all the lobster traps were outside the reserve. Given that most of these traps were about a half mile inside the new MPA, I questioned them about where they thought the reserve boundary was. To my amazement, the told me that the reserve ended at the buoy line and that this was what was programed into their GPS units.

Incredulous, I explained to these guys that the rules had changed. I also told them that if it was their intention to only enforce the pre-2012 boundaries, I would be a happy camper.

They huddled together and called their headquarters. A few minutes later, they sped off back to the offending lobster traps. When I reached them a few minutes later, they thanked me for giving them the heads up. Apparently the guys in the field have not yet all been given their new marching orders.

Their next statement almost made me fall out of my yak. They told me that they had taken down the numbers from the fifty or so buoys that had been set inside the reserve. They would give those numbers to their administrative folks who would "mail the trap owners a letter telling them that they were in violation". If the traps were not moved in a reasonable time, they would issue citations.

I wonder what a "reasonable time" is? I further wonder what would have happened to the poor fisherman who had unwittingly wandered into one of the newly closed, (and unmarked) areas. I bet that fisherman would have gotten a ticket on the spot.

Now I am not ragging on the DFG. The guys I met were very nice and were just doing their jobs. I am a little disappointed that that these guys, (and presumably many other wardens), were not as well informed about the new regulations as a myself, who has been sitting on land, mending a bad leg for the last four months.

As for the lobster fishermen who set their traps in the expanded reserve, I have no sympathy. I hope that they ignore their very generous warnings and have all their gear confiscated. All commercial lobster fishermen have GPS systems to help them figure out where to set their traps. These guys have no excuse for not knowing where the legal grounds are. They are poachers pure and simple. I hope that they get taught a very painful lesson.

Bob

Holy Sh1t.

Did someone hack your user name and post that ?

-----------
I just deleted everything I wrote to you Bob - because I believe it wouldn't help you understand one bit.

[Matt]

Kooks will be kooks!! Funniest thing is your calling the "cops" about something that is legal hahaha understand the laws first! Did you get a free blue shirt that says "mpa's work"????

[mazilla]

"Mind your own business" comes to mind...

[dorado50]

So Bob,what u r saying is that if someone catches a trophy outside mpa zone and the fish takes them into the illegal zone(where they boat it) you are reporting this to the the dfg. Not cool..........My father always warned me of "do gooders" now I see why.

[mckenzie]

No you didn't, REALLY?

[dsafety]

Well, I guess I have been taken to the woodshed. I am very surprised at the flaming that I am taking for this one. Everyone, of course is entitled to their opinion. I will stand by mine.

My position on this is that if the average guy is going to have to abide by these new regs, the commercial fishermen should have to do so as well. What I saw yesterday was obviously intentional. Who among us supports the idea that one class of fishermen has to obey the law and another class does not?

The more important point of my post was the the fact that the organization chartered with enforcing the new regs is clueless as to what they are. The fact that the procedure used to deal with the commercial poachers that were identified is to mail a letter was also an eye opener.

Like it or not, the new regs are here, at least for a while. We have to live with the cards that we have been dealt. Contrary to what some might think, the DFG wardens are not the enemy. They have an important job to do and precious few resources with which to do it. I, for one would rather have a cordial and respectful relationship with these guys rather than an adversarial one. I think that I may have done a bit to help secure the former with what I did yesterday.

Bob

[ericko]

I would have looked the other way..... I STILL LIKE YA BOB

[Hypoxic1]

Hmm, this sounds like a great way to encourage the badges to spend more time down here. I cant believe what I just read. unfuckingbelieveable

[Iceman]

As I paddled in yesterday the guy was pulling his traps right at the "old" boundary. I watched him pull and measure and re dump his traps. I considered paddling over and asking if he knew the lines had been changed as of Jan 1 and is lobster trapping exempt.

I decided to not bother If he is oblivious to the fight for his livelyhood, he deserves the ticket. I did not feel compelled at all to help the DFG with the 3 foot high permit # on the side of his boat.

I does not surprise me that commercial fishermen have never heard of the MLPA or even some of the wardens.

Bob,

you did what you felt was right, it would piss me off if the DFG did not treat ALL violators equally, I don't think anyone will be ticketed any time soon in LJ

[Devildawgjj]

Originally Posted by dsafety

Who among us supports the idea that one class of fishermen has to obey the law and another class does not?


Bob

There is nothing egalitarian about law, policies, rules and regulations, etc. We can't (with the presumption we know the law) fish in an invisible boundary. But there will always people who do.....it's not my job to police them.

It's kind of analogous with people speeding past me on the freeway when I'm going at or slightly under the posted speed limit.

These guys have no excuse for not knowing where the legal grounds are.

The antithesis to this is the DFG wardens should have no exuse for not knowing where the leagal grounds are as well.

As a graduate student in a MPA program, it is quite frequent that policies that are enacted under the auspices of environmental ideologies, get enacted, without ever a plan to enforce such rule under their current resources.

Jason

[T-Rex]

Originally Posted by dsafety

I, for one would rather have a cordial and respectful relationship with these guys rather than an adversarial one. I think that I may have done a bit to help secure the former with what I did yesterday.

Bob

Bob, I gotta disagree with you. I believe we should always maintain a courteous and respectful relationship with the DFG wardens, but this doesn't require anyone to help enforce the MLPA.

I'd fully support you for reporting someone taking shorts, but the MLPA and new boundaries are complete BS and were implemented through a disgusting and corrupt process. I'm shocked anyone in the fishing community would go out of their way to help enforce implementation of the MLPA.