Poachers fined more than $120,000 for taking abalone and lobsters off Catalina Island

Two Southern California men were fined in excess of $60,000 each and had their fishing licenses permanently revoked for poaching abalone and spiny lobsters off the coast of Catalina Island.

Hee Won Chai, 75, of Los Angeles and Jin Chai Jeong, 58, of Garden Grove pleaded no contest to charges of taking and possessing eight pink abalone, three green abalone and four spiny lobsters out of season.

Jeong also was charged with trying to destroy evidence, according to officials with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

The men were each ordered this month to pay $61,626 in fines and penalties and to donate $1,000 to the department’s wildlife preservation fund.

Additionally, all of their scuba diving equipment was forfeited.

The charges stemmed from a September 2015 incident in which a department patrol boat crew spotted the men doing the illegal fishing. Jeong dropped the bag containing the sea creatures into the water, but two wardens jumped in after it and recovered the evidence from 40 feet of water.

Photos of the poached animals were taken and used as evidence against the men.

Department officials said that all of the state’s species of abalone are struggling and two are listed as federally endangered. There has been a moratorium on the harvesting of abalone south of San Francisco since 1997.

Only one population of red abalone in Northern California is stable enough to be harvested, and that is on a very limited basis.

Fish and Wildlife Assistant Chief Mike Stefanak said that strong laws enacted against poaching were part of an overall recovery plan to protect the state’s abalone populations.

“An extraordinary amount of time and effort is invested in helping the Southern California abalone populations rebound, including the sacrifice of honest abalone harvesters who cannot currently fish for abalone south of San Francisco,” Stefanak said.

Still, he said, his department has seen an increase in the crime.

“Successful prosecutions such as these will hopefully serve as a deterrent for anyone considering committing these crimes against the environment,” he said.

debbi.baker@sduniontribune.com

Baker writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune