A Bay Area man has been sued by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office for allegedly catching hundreds of Dungeness crabs illegally in the protected North Farallon Islands State Marine Reserve.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says they received an anonymous tip that crab traps were being placed near the Farallon Islands, an ecologically fragile archipelago with strict marine protections. Fishing of any kind in the marine reserve is prohibited.
“Our officers received an anonymous tip from a commercial fisherman who said he saw another fisherman’s crab traps in the Marine Protected Area. He was concerned that this fisherman’s illegal activities would put other law-abiding fisherman in a bad light,” Fish and Wildlife Assistant Chief for the Marine Enforcement District Eric Kord said in a statement. “This is a large-scale incident of unlawful take from a Marine Protected Area, and we might not have known about it had another commercial fisherman not reported the illegal activity.”
Fish and Wildlife investigators allegedly discovered over 90 crab traps in the area, which they seized after “battling difficult sea and weather conditions.” They say they released more than 250 Dungeness crabs from those traps back into the ocean.
According to the district attorney’s office, the tags and buoys on the traps traced back to commercial fisher Tam Van Tran’s vessel Pacific Mist. Tran lives in Vallejo.
The district attorney’s lawsuit alleges Tran gained an unfair business advantage by illegally fishing in a Marine Protected Area. It is a misdemeanor for commercial fishing operations to work in protected areas, punishable fines ranging from $5,000 to $40,000 for a first offense.
“Upon information and belief, this is the most egregious case of unlawful crabbing activity in San Francisco’s history, as well as the largest incident of unlawful commercial crabbing in any Marine Protected Area in the entire State of California,” the lawsuit says.
Fishing near the Farallones also threatens the rare marine ecosystem. The small collection of islands about 30 miles off San Francisco holds one of largest bird nesting sites along the North American coast. Whales and sea turtles also pass through the area, and crab traps threaten to entangle them.
In order to protect the islands, they are completely closed to the public.
