Oakland crab poachers had hidden compartments

Unbelievable.

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Oakland-crab-poachers-had-hidden-compartments-5705637.php

I wonder how many times they got away with it.

What a bag of d$cks ! 

Wow 5 days in jail... Pretty harsh!! I bet try will never do it again!

Seriously, they probably got away with thousands of crab previously. 

Minh Tran, who has a record of infractions and misdemeanor convictions for state Fish and Game Code violations,

Just goes to show the punishments are not nearly enough to deter poachers.
First time around should be stiff penalities and fines but he second time around should be YEARS in jail and HUMONGOUS fines.
I wonder how much all the poaching is costing us in terms of biomass reduction, shorter seasons, smaller bag limits and increased regulations?

If they went to the extent of modifying a boat for this very use, then they were making all attempts possible to load the boat every trip possible.  The "casual" person who might want to sneak a few extra past "the man" will possibly hide them.  The "pro" poacher will go as far as to have it customized for naughty deeds.

I agree, the penalties far underwhelm the deed in this case, and most.

Wish they will have their boat, the truck that tows the boat, and any equipment in the truck all taken away!  These people should not be allowed to be near any sort of wild life.

Imagine, they must have been doing this for years, 100 crabs a day, damn no wonder crabs are declining cause of shit bags like these, they should hunt down the restaurant they are supplying, that low life will find another supplier like this....

If they are not afraid to poach I bet they don't hesitate to steal from other people's pots when no one is around.  F*ckers probably cleaned my pots that I leave soaking more south of the harbor.

Their photos should be posted at or near the boat launch so all the law abiding folks can drop a dime on these asshats. 

Yea their picture should be posted everywhere!!! At least they got jail time, fined (to low) and the boat burned  and I hope they never do it again. RIGHT!

Wish they will have their boat, the truck that tows the boat, and any equipment in the truck all taken away!  These people should not be allowed to be near any sort of wild life.

They should chop off Mr. Tran's hands.

Poachers don't care about bullshit fines that they can pay with the money they made from poaching.

Let's see if they're willing to risk permanent disfiguration for their beloved illegal take of GAME income.

Agreed that they should have gone after more assets than just the boat -- these guys were obviously in it for the money. Why not the vehicle, why not their house? It was all used in the poaching scheme.

Also, wasn't there another east bay crab poacher busted the other week -- coming out of humboldt county with hundreds of crabs? Somebody needs to be checking invoices at the markets and restaurants as there's obviously a market for these poachers.

They could've just got a tier 7 Dungie permit for a couple thousand $ and harvested 3X as much crab legally. What's the difference?