illegal crab traps gets jail time

 

  Something sure doesn't seem right.  Surely him ( The convict) being a "Commercial Fisherman" carrying such a license, he HAD to know (But didn't care) where he was dropping his 100 pots was not right! I agree, minimum,he should have lost all the pots.  Maybe his boat as well?  How many small crabs were in the traps?  isn't there a fine for each undersized one?  Let me text that a different way,  How much would we, law abiding fishermen (women) be fined for an undersized crab that somehow  remained in a pot?  (Not that any of use would allow that)

Few factors may have led to to a hometown slap on the wrist for This sumbish.  1) His bro is a retired firefighter.

What the hell this mean? Are all brothers of retired FFs shady and benefiting from a family connection?

As a current FF, I take exception to your characterization!

Hammer the the guy, he sounds like he deserves it, please leave out the speculation!

No.  Bros of retired FF aren't shadily predisposed, ain't what I said at all.  But you yourself wrote, "hammer the guy he sounds like he deserves it."  Well if deserves it and didn't get it, then why?  Family connections/history/occupations (3rd Gen angler, etc etc)  may be a factor explaining Convict's treatment with kid gloves rather than iron fist.  It sure looks like the DA gave the judge light sentencing recommendation, and the judge agreed.

Were it some no-name schmuck pooching 100 tightwire pots in a MPA outside Bodega, said poocher would be looking at bigger time than 2.5 weekends in a detention center eating whitebread govt cheese sammiches . . .

50 crabs/pot x 2 lbs/crab = 100 lbs/pot @ $3.00/ lb = $300/ pot x 100 pots = $30,000.

So even if you're overestimating by 200%, work the gear once and.......

So just a thought here. The devils in the details. Possibly the fishing inside the reserve thing couldn't stick. I've never seen an experienced comm crabber deep inside a reserve. What we do do is set traps right along the boarder. This seems to annoy the enforcement. They'll even claim we drop inside and allow the buoys to float outside with "our knowledge of prevailing winds and current", which is complete bullshit. Just because he was charged does not mean the charges could stick.
I'm not defending him, just pointing out that the court of public opinion, especially without the facts can be sketchy at best.

I'm having a problem with the whole "the crabs were going to be exported to China". So what? Good for him for helping address the trade imbalance.

I just spoke to the Sonoma DA’s office. They said I could send an email to Ann Gallagher of the Environmental Division listed here: http://da.sonoma-county.org/content.aspx?sid=1023&id=1914

They also said He will be back in court in August but they could not tell me why. I asked if the plea bargain and jail time are set and they said yes. So if you want to voice your opinion you can do so. I still do not have all the facts but I cannot agree with the plea bargain, or the sentence.

Why don't we sick Pew et al. on them?  They built these MPA's; they definitely would want to see strict enforcement.

-Allen

If you look at the DFG facebook site the Headline makes it look like he was Sentenced for crabbing in the SMR very misleading. You can comment there.

Commercial Crab Fisherman Sentenced for Crabbing in Marine Protected Area off Sonoma County