The California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced the arrest of four suspects on charges of harvesting abalone with a recreational fishing license then selling it on the black market for profit.
The arrests were preceded by a five-month investigation of the suspects, some of whom have been previously convicted of similar violations.
Arrested were Oakley resident Thepbangon Nonnarath, 48, El Sobrante resident Dennis Nonnarath, 45, and San Jose residents Thu Thi Tran, 45, and Cuong Huu Tran, 42.
The group came to the attention of CDFW wildlife officers in November 2016, when Thepbangon and Dennis Nonnarath and two associates were cited for multiple abalone violations at Moat Creek, a popular recreational abalone fishery in Mendocino County. Thepbangon Nonnarath had previous abalone poaching convictions and the wildlife officers suspected the group may be engaged in the commercial sale of recreationally harvested abalone, which is unlawful.
Beginning in May 2017, wildlife officers observed suspicious activity by the same group of suspects in several popular recreational abalone diving locations in both Mendocino and Sonoma counties. Further investigation revealed an extended group of people who were harvesting abalone and allegedly selling it on the black market. The five-month investigation uncovered evidence of various poaching crimes among the group, including unlawful sale of sport caught abalone, take of abalone for personal profit, commercial possession of sport caught abalone, exceeding the seasonal limit of abalone, falsification of abalone tags and conspiracy to commit a crime, among others.
“The collective efforts of these suspected poachers show a blatant disregard for the regulations designed to protect California’s abalone resources,” said David Bess, Chief of CDFW’s Law Enforcement Division. “Whether it be California abalone or African ivory, wildlife officers will not tolerate trafficking of our wildlife resources.”
The alleged abalone poaching crimes occurred at a time when abalone are facing significant threats to their populations due to unprecedented environmental and biological stressors. As a result, the California Fish and Game Commission has re-adopted an emergency abalone regulation to continue the restriction of the annual abalone limit to 12 abalone per person and continue the reduced open season which is limited to May, June, August, September and October.
Source: Information provided by California Department of Fish and Wildlife
18 comments
These people should go to prison some of them should be sent back to Viet Nam where they came from. I’ve seen multiple cases of Abalone poaching for commercial gain and while not always it’s often Asian people who are involved.
You got it Mark. All these lo life’s want to come to America, yet they want to live and do like they’re home country.
Oakley Resident? This makes me sick! This scum isn’t a resident of anywhere. No good punks.
How cultural diversity insensitive. Asian culture has little to no respect for animals. We should welcome their illegal poaching to accommodate their culture in racist America. (tongue in cheek)
Crime is crime, but not high on my list of crimes to be too concerned about.
Sorry Melanie this is a serious crime and they are multiple offenders. I agree with Mark.
Julio, I’m more concerned about violence – which can impact the quality of my life. This isn’t on my radar screen.
I’ll stick to being concerned about murder, armed robbery, burglary, carjacking, etc. I’ll let LE enforcement handle this.
I can’t worry about everything.
Wake up Melanie, crime is crime. It only gets worse and closer to home. Our home, your home.
Lucky i didn’t see them in the water. I suspect soon we won’t be able to do the things we love anymore because of this type of B.S. Its such a privilege to dive for Red Abalone.
I agree with Melanie. I’m not going to get worked up about abalone. I have more important things to think about. If it doesn’t affect me – I don’t care.
I don’t buy or sell abalone – zzzzzzzzz.
Why did the two of you feel the need to comment then? Nobody cares about your stance on every topic. Douchey.
It’s called freedom of speech. Welcome to the internet. If you don’t like it – don’t read my comments.
Nobody cares about you Gar Buen.
Everything is a keeper to them. They are poaching all over the Delta as well.
I agree. The same 2 cars have been fishing daily across the Slough from my house m-f or over 2 years. I have called fish and game and nothing gets done other than them being rude to me for calling.
Hey everyone, ABALONE LIVES MATTER!!!
Troy, that is fantastic!! Yes crime is crime, unfortunately our judicial system will just kick them out because they are too full, they must have mental illness, they had troubled childhoods, but they came here legally… OMG, stop the madness! I don’t care where you came from, what color your skin is or where or how you were raised. If you commit a crime, own it, do your time. People are no longer afraid of law enforcement or the criminal justice system. Some use it as a way to get free room and board. Some use it to get status in a gang. Some abuse it and claim they blacked out and don’t remember pulling the trigger… please. I say build more prisons, make the penalties stiffer and make them do the time. The rate of recidivism is high and many that get out with ankle bracelets remove them and laugh at those that put them into them. People from other countries commit crimes under the be free in America attitude and then flee back to their countries to hide from being caught or prosecuted. America has become too soft on our criminals and almost all are not held accountable. I wonder if there will be protests, riots, vandalism or other crimes today protesting the arrest of the poachers? Oh, I guess not. It’s just abalone….
People can comment on whatever they want – good, bad or indifferent. Quit forcing people to try and agree with you. Learn to agree to disagree. All opinions should be respected.
Also – there are more than one Melanie and Nick here. I’ve read Nick say there’s more than one Nick. I’ve seen other Melanie’s here – including the one responding to me. We can all leave as many comments (or as few) as we want.
Get a life. Quit worrying that someone doesn’t agree with you. What difference does it make?
Hypocrisy at its finest. They get jail time for their crimes against nature, yet giant corporations can do the same (destroy an entire ecosystem for profit) yet the company just gets a fine. Even more cause for people not having faith in the “justice” system.
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