The Tide Pool Police

The next time you’re on the beach and think about snagging that seashell or ocean-smoothed rock, watch out for the Tide Pool Cops.

Marine biologists blame declining numbers of tide pool creatures on beachgoers who nab seashells, not knowing they might someday be needed as a hermit crab’s home.

To keep poachers and casual collectors at bay, a growing number of police agencies across coastal Orange County are assigning officers to the tide pools and rocky beaches with citation books in hand.

The Dana Point branch of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department was the first to monitor the tide pools, with the Ocean Institute in Dana Point holding classes teaching authorities how to protect the tide pool creatures.

Last week, the institute held another training seminar for officers from several departments, including Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and state park rangers and lifeguards.

Russ Chilton, who patrols tide pools in Dana Point, said the main target is commercial poachers--scuba divers with spears and buckets. Anyone caught taking shells will probably get a warning for the first offense.

“If you have a family down there, and they’re collecting a few seashells, we’re going to just give a warning and make them aware it’s a refuge and that they can’t remove anything. Not rocks or seashells or anything,” he said.

Chilton said citations can cost a poacher $50 to $1,000.

Chilton said Dana Point’s program of issuing warnings and citations has been successful. Officers patrol the beach at low tide at least once a day and have cited several poachers since the program began. In addition, officers have had “educational encounters” with beachgoers unaware that removing even a tiny shell is a crime, Chilton said.

“The officers are making people aware they aren’t allowed to collect any marine life at all from the pools,” said Jon Lewengrub, marine life refuge manager at the Ocean Institute. “People seem to be leaving the animals behind and are just looking.”

To help officers with their patrols, a reference booklet, Marine Life Enforcement Guide, was created by Chilton, state officials and biologists from the Ocean Institute.

“I’d like to see other agencies along the coast who have these marine refuges implement the program we have here in Dana Point,” Chilton said.

The popularity of the little pools--and those who walk away with shells--have been threatening the very diversity that makes them an attraction. Officials fear if they don’t take action, the tide pool colonies could wither away.

Lewengrub said the Ocean Institute in July found that more than 1,200 people traipsed through the Dana Point tide pools in just three hours.

“Leaving behind just one shell has a huge impact on these animals, who need these leftover materials to nest or to camouflage in the environment,” Lewengrub said. “Every little bit does help.”

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“Souvenir” Seekers Depleting Tide Pools

While Corona del Mar’s tide pools are subjected to the most traffic, most of the county’s refuges show wear and tear from human visitors. Creatures most commonly removed from tide pools, which dot the coast from Newport to Doheny Beach:

Mussels

Limpets

Snails*

Spotted octopus

Red sea urchin

Sea Star

*Hermit crabs, which live in abandoned snail shells, are also “souvenir species”