Local Fish & Game Wardens Dennis McKiver, Gary Combes, and Ed Ramos were responsible for two arrests in what is the largest single haul of illegally taken abalone in California history. Kurt Allen Ward, 43, and Joshua Holt, 34, both from San Ysidro in Southern California, were found to be in possession of 468 abalone at Albion River on Friday, May 21. They used their commercial sea urchin diving boat and gear to collect the abalone off Elk, in the area around the Elk Guest House.

Judging from the pictures I saw, they were all large abalone, apparently 8 or 9 inches. McKiver confirmed this, telling me that he didn?t notice many under the 7 inch size limit. The whole load of abalone, in the shell, may have weighed as much as a ton. The abalone were dead or dying, according to Warden McKiver, and were quickly donated to local charities, including the Ukiah Senior Center.

The wardens, acting on a local fisherman?s tip (who was not identified), were on the lookout for these guys.

Warden Dennis McKiver reported on the Coastside Fishing Club Web Site, ?Warden Ramos and I had received information that Kurt Ward and another licensed urchin diver, Joshua Holt were towing their dive boat ?Blind Strike? all the way up from San Diego to the Mendocino Coast and spending a day diving, but they were not delivering any sea urchins to the local buyers. They were then seen towing the boat back to San Diego the next day. Even the local urchin divers have not been taking many urchins this year because the price being paid for Mendocino County sea urchins is currently very low. It did not make any sense that Ward and Holt would come all the way up to Mendocino County to take sea urchins when the divers in Southern California were getting more money for their Southern California sea urchins. Also, to repeatedly tow a boat all the way up and back form San Diego for one day of diving did not make sense, since Ward could leave his boat in Fort Bragg, or Albion for much less time, effort, and expense. Their activities lead us to believe they may be engaging in other than lawful commercial sea urchin diving activities. So, we waited for their next arrival next trip to Mendocino.

On 5-18-04 Warden Ramos found out that Kurt Ward was in the Albion area. Warden Ramos notified Warden Combes. On 5-20-04 Warden Combes patrolled south along the Mendocino Coast looking for the commercial fishing vessel ?Blind Strike.? At about 1200 hours, Warden Combes saw the ?Blind Strike? anchor offshore of Elk. Warden Combes saw two divers enter the water using commercial hookah diving gear. Warden Combes watched their activities for about 40 minutes. Their diving activities were consistent with commercial sea urchin fishing. Warden Combes was unable to remain in position until the divers finished diving and did not see them put any abalone in the boat. Warden Combes called me about 1400 hours and told me of the ?Blind Strike's? position and activities.

On 5-20-04 at about 1700 hours I contacted Ward and Holt at the Albion River Harbor. I asked if they had taken any urchins. Ward said, ?No they were all poor quality, so we didn't take any.? I asked to see their commercial fishing licenses and sea urchin permits. They each showed me their valid licenses and permits. I asked Ward if I could look in his boat. He said, ?Go ahead.? I asked Ward to lift up the rear fish hold cover. As he did he said, ?There's just gear in here.? I looked in and could see what appeared to be an abalone under the gear. I told Ward and Holt that I knew they had abalone in the boat and they were therefore under arrest.

I notified dispatch of the arrest and had the dispatcher contact Warden Combes for assistance. When Warden Combes arrived we moved the gear off of the abalone and photographed the abalone in the boat's fish holds for evidence. We had Ward and Holt secure the boat for towing. We had Ward tow his boat to a Fish and Game secure storage area in Fort Bragg.

Lt. Ponting and Warden Ceccon met us there. They interviewed Ward and Holt while Warden Combes and I secured the boat and evidence. We seized the boat and all diving gear and equipment aboard it. At 1815 CHP officer Gerry Gmeiner #9315 met us at my request. He assisted by completing a CHP 180 form for the seizure and impound of the boat and helped us count the abalone. We counted 468 abalone in the ?Blind Strike? fish holds. Lt. Cathy Ponting, Warden Ceccon and Officer Gmeiner completed an inventory of the seized vessel contents. Warden Ramos arrived and assisted with securing the abalone evidence. Warden Combes and I transported Ward and Holt to the Mendocino County Jail in Ukiah and booked them in at 2230 hours on the following charges:

PC 182(a)(1) - Felony conspiracy to commit a crime. F&G 2000 - Unlawful take of abalone. F&G 2002 - Unlawful possession of abalone. F&G 5521.5 - Unlawful take of abalone for commercial purpose. F&G 12006.6 - Taking abalone for commercial purpose from a closed area - penalty. F&G 7145 - Taking abalone from an area open to sport take of abalone without first obtaining a sport fishing license. CCR Title 14 Section 29.15(c) - taking abalone in excess of the daily bag limit (3) and in excess of the yearly trip limit (24). CCR Title 14 Section 29.15(e) - unlawful method of taking abalone, unlawful use of hookah dive gear. CCR Title 14 Section 29.15(f) - taking abalone without a required abalone measuring device. CCR Title 14 Section 29.15(h) - unlawfully taking abalone without first obtaining an Abalone Report Card.?

They threw the book at them. Now it?s up to our local Mendocino County DA to make the charges stick, and our judges to send a message that this type of activity is a career-limiting move.

George Lawry, long time President of the Sonoma County Abalone Network (SCAN), called me Monday morning to find out about the case. SCAN has been a force in Sonoma County?s strict enforcement of poaching cases, with members putting together a reward fund, up to $1000, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of abalone poachers. George is interested in offering the reward to the unidentified Albion tipster. I passed that on to Warden McKiver; the reward can be given anonymously.

The local Confidential Grapevine tells me: Ward and Holt are alleged to be crank addicts. They were said to be bringing the abalone down to Mexico, where they were selling it for $45 per kilo, or about $25 per pound. This was their sixth trip, according to statements they made independently to investigators. My personal surmise is that when you put poaching lowlife tweakers together with the Mexican Mob, you just may have more than a poaching case. Were the poachers being paid in methamphetamine, I wonder? Pure speculation on my part.

SOME OBSERVATIONS ON ABALONE: Kurt Ward and Josh Holt were reportedly only diving for three hours, and they collected a ton of abalone using compressed air diving gear, called a hookah, and a hydraulic hoist to load the abalone into the boat. Urchin boats are identifiable by their forward cabin, low profile, and minimal freeboard. The hulls look like very large jon boats for duck hunting with an out house perched in the front of the boat.

Sea urchins cohabit with abalone in the sub-tidal zone, with abalone petering out after 80 feet of depth. The recreational fishery for abalone north of the Golden Gate is limited to breath-hold diving - scuba tanks are prohibited. That effectively limits the lawful take of abalone to the depths most people can dive - out to thirty feet deep and less. So if everyone plays by the rules, there will always be abalone because of the constant repopulating from big, deep water abalone. Up until 1999, the commercial fishery, legally using the same gear as did Holt and Ward in this poaching case, hammered the Central and Southern California abalone fisheries, until the whole area was closed to both sport and commercial take.

After several high profile cases back in the 80s and 90s, we thought this problem with commercial urchin divers poaching abalone was a thing of the past. I confess that I habitually refer to urchin boats as ?abalone boats?, an artifact of Albion-speak.

The last time I dove down in the Elk area, I could see dozens of abalones, in some cases, stacked one atop the other as I floated on the surface. There is now an historical abundance of abalones in NorCal for several reasons: lack of sea otters, perfect habitat, the rules for non-commercial use by the public on a breath-hold fishery established in the late nineteen forties, and more recently, the introduction of the commercial sea urchin fishery, which sells the gonads of sea urchins to the Japanese. The commercial sea urchin fishery has reduced the populations of the abalone?s main competitor for its food and its habitat. Sea urchins can crowd out whole communities of abalone, and they tend to fill each other?s niches.

So what we have here is undeniably special - the last healthy, producing abalone population in the world. It has been managed inexpensively, with common-sense rules that are supported by 99% of the abalone divers, including myself. Many recreational divers point to commercial poaching cases as the sole cause of any alleged declines of abalone - yet, if every recreational diver took just one abalone over his or her limit, that would add up to over 30,000 abalone.

I asked Warden Dennis McKiver if he could estimate the number of commercial abalone poaching cases that were brought to court, compared to the number that went undetected. ?I?d guess we catch about 10%, based on the information we receive about various people, and what we are able to bring charges on.?