Cheers to Warden Bloom

[pescadore]

It seems like I'm always griping about CDF&G, so this story is a pleasure to relate:

Eric Bloom, Warden for CDF&G, arrested a bunch of guys up here for poaching 70 abalone.  They were dudes from LA, and they were so serious about it they rented a  motel room at a different motel from where they were staying to store the abs.  He believes that they were probably going to get more, but one of the guys spotted him after he followed them to ab-storage hotel room, so he had to make the bust immediately.

Also, take note that these guys didn't give a crap about tags and all that.  Right on Eric.

[piski]

Right on, this kind of crap is one of the real problems where DFG should be focusing their attention. People who do this kind of stuff couldn't give a rat's @ss about conservation, MLPA's, or whatever. Driven purely by greed. 
Do you have a link to the story?

[Abking]

Chop a finger off of each one of those bastards!  Mandatory jail time.  Huge fine.  Loss of license for life.  Tatoo...   

Thanks, Warden Eric. 

[Mahi]

The only problem with loss of license for life is that they just have to go buy a new one and they're back in business. There is no way to monitor if you have had your license taken for life unless you get cited again for a  F&G violation.

It's kind of like out of state people having to pay more for a Cal. fishing license, but the smart ones just say they're from Cal. and pay the regular price. No one checks.

Someone needs to revamp the system, maybe tie it into the DMV or something like that where it can be checked.

Good Job Bloom! "F" those "F'in" "F'ers"

[CGN-38]

I hope the judge is a shellfish eater, and tosses a huge book at them!

[PISCEAN]

Tatoo... 

Totally. Could use a "P" brand too, a la Pirates of the Carribean"...it could stand for ...


POOCHER!

[KZ]

When I buy a fishing license in Wisconsin, it's all electronic.  You swipe your drivers license (if you are in-state) and it reads all your information and prints out a license.   Can do hard entry too I suppose.  Not sure of all the security features but seems there would be pretty good potential for information to work in the favor of enforcement.  If you want to sell licenses, you gotta have the electronic system.

California likes to cripple itself though, so I doubt they'll ever do anything that would be as efficient or effective as that.  Instead they are more interested in having Walmart swipe your DL when you buy ammo so they know where all the guns live.

EK

[DaveW]

The only problem with loss of license for life is that they just have to go buy a new one and they're back in business. There is no way to monitor if you have had your license taken for life unless you get cited again for a  F&G violation.

According to the Wardens, CA is to start an electronic database for licensing next year.  Seems weird that CA would be so far behind the times in this.

[promethean_spark]

At least for hunting licences (haven't bought a fishing license there), South Dakota is purely online.  You go through the page, pay via credit card and print out your license (or as many copies as you want).  If you get checked by a warden, he'll look up your license number to verify that it is real.  That would certainly simplify life here.  It's not like police don't run your license plate number and DL number to verify those, it's no big deal to do with with fishing licenses too.  And why not accept the duplicate license as a license?  It's got your name and DL # on it so it's not like someone else could use it...

Unfortunately, I think the anti-sportsman sentiment in California is so strong that our rules are made unduly restrictive and complected in order to deter people from engaging in outdoor sports.  Soon enough we'll see books at fishing stores titled "How to catch a fish and stay out of jail".  Of course for blatant poachers such as the above, a felony conviction and several months jail time is entirely appropriate.