Dana Point Lobster Poachers Busted

November 19, 2025

Around 1 a.m. on Oct. 24, a CDFW officer patrolling Dana Point Harbor in Orange County spotted a lone light glowing at the end of the jetty. The officer spotted a subject leaving the jetty carrying a suspicious black bag. The subject casually admitted to a group of nearby divers that he had a “trash bag full of lobster.” The divers took a peek, laughed and suggested he might want to get those to a car before a wildlife officer showed up.

Spoiler: he did not make it to the car.

When the officer contacted him, the bag revealed six lobsters — five undersized. The subject claimed a buddy in the water was handing them off, so the officer waited for round two.

The second diver emerged wearing a game bag stuffed with more than twice the legal lobster limit — 18 lobsters. The diver admitted he was taking more than the legal limit and swapping out smaller lobsters for bigger ones, an illegal practice known as “high grading”. 

The two subjects were found with a total of 24 lobsters, 19 undersized. Both were cited, and every undersized lobster safely returned to the ocean. 

Remember: 

-Measure immediately
-Limit is seven
-High-grading is highly illegal

Let’s keep our waters — and our lobsters — crawling in the right direction, so they are there for future generations to enjoy and appreciate.

Thanks for sharing! Always happy to hear that poachers are getting caught, and continue to hope that the consequences for poaching will one day be taken more seriously

Aloha,

Isao