By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

May 22, 2004

Two Southern California fisherman were in Mendocino County Jail on Friday, facing allegations of illegally harvesting more than $20,000 worth of red abalone from the coast near Albion.

Kurt Allen Ward, 43, and Joshua Holt, 34, both of San Ysidro, were caught Thursday with 468 abalone in the hold of their urchin boat named "Blind Strike," said Troy Swauger, the state Department of Fish and Game spokesman.

It was the largest single illicit abalone haul nabbed by the agency, Swauger said. The abalone, most more than eight inches long, could sell for $50 to $100 each on the black market, he said.

Two game wardens, acting on citizen tips, made the arrest when the men landed their boat at the Albion River Campground, a popular diving spot at the mouth of the Albion River.

The men told investigators it was their sixth trip to the area from Southern California. Those visits aroused the suspicion of local anglers.

Investigators believe the men used a "hookah" rig with an air compressor on the boat to pump air into their dive masks. The men allegedly collected abalone for about three hours in an area as deep as 50 feet and thick with large abalone, too far underwater and too far from shore for snorkeling sport divers to reach, Swauger said.

State law allows fishermen to take only three abalone a day and a total of 24 in one year. No air tanks or compressors are allowed.

The abalone population is declining statewide, prompting reduced sport fishing limits on the North Coast and a moratorium on all abalone harvesting, sport and commercial, south of San Francisco Bay, Swauger said.

Mendocino County Sheriff Tony Craver, whose agency was not involved in the case, said greed is the motivation for abalone poachers. "They're only in it for the money and they essentially ruin it for everybody," he said.

Game wardens Gary Combs and Dennis McKiver had been on the lookout for the boat, which was owned by Ward, after local anglers became suspicious of his previous visits to the area, Swauger said.

Following a tip that the boat had returned on Thursday, Combs spotted it on the water and McKiver intercepted it at the campground, he said.

The abalone were "clearly visible" in the boat's hold beneath a small number of urchins, Swauger said.

Fish and Game has made larger abalone busts, involving as much as $1 million worth of the prized mollusks, following a prolonged investigation, Swauger said. This was the largest single haul, he said.