Rocky Entries

Abalone Report Cards

Beginning in 1998, recreational harvesters were required to purchase and have on their fishing license a Recreational Abalone Stamp. This was a $16.00 stamp (in 2008, it will be $18.00).

Starting in 2000, a Punch Card is issued with each stamp purchase. The purpose of the Punch Card will be to track season limits as described below. Unfortunately, the 2000 Punch Card was a pathetic cardboard/heavy paper version that distingrated if it got wet.

Starting with the 2001 season, the punch cards were made from water-proof material and no stamp was included.

Then, around 2002, law enforcement changed the standard and required that punch cards be filled out as soon as you exit the water. Things began to get silly and, for the guy just trying to enjoy a day at the ocean with an honest limit of abalone, financially hazardous. The game in progress is one where poachers are side-stepping a difficult-to-enforce punch card system and law enforcement is responding with more draconian enforcement standards. By 2005, we have seen the number of well-intentioned divers cited for trivial punch card violations sky rocket.

By 2005, the punch cards have proven to be an easy stumbling block for honest and well intentioned divers. The problem has to do with when they're punched and filled out.

Initially (2000/2001), law enforcement was satisfied if you filled out the punch card before you drove off. Unsurprisingly, some divers would simply skip filling out the card if noone had approached them before they were about to leave. Many of these divers simply forgot, others found it convenient to forget and the sport-to-commercial poachers relied on being able to do this.

Filling out the cards as soon as you exit the water only applies to those diving from boats or farther than 500 yards from their vehicles. The 500 yards standard has long been problematic: who really knows what 500 yards looks like (other than making a guess) and is the 500 yards as the crow flies or how far the warden/ranger has to walk? Who knows. This is a standard that is up to the officer on the scene to decide. To be safe, I'd advise shore divers to carry the punch card during the dive and, when exiting the water, sit down on the beach, take a breather and fill out the card. And, yes, this is a sorry situation.

For the boat divers, filling out the punch card as soon as they exit the water was enforced as a requirement to fill out the card on the boat when you climb out of the water. Note that "boat divers" include poor sods (like me) that dive from a kayak. Silly as it sounds, law enforcement expects soggy boat divers to fill out the punch card (using indelible ink) as soon as they get back on the boat. Oh... and you're also required to punch out the little chads when you're done inking the appropriate information.

These requirements demonstrate a total lack of understanding by law enforcement of what's required to dive from a kayak. One cardinal rule of kayak diving is to not spend too much time looking down at anything close (as in, filling out paperwork). I've gotten sea sick twice in my life and one of those was spending too much time looking inside the hatch for some gear (no, I wasn't looking for some dinky pen).

It apparently does not matter whether seas are calm, have a lot of wind chop or are booming: you MUST fill out that card before you start paddling or motoring anywhere. At least you have to if you want some insurance against harassment by a warden, ranger or life guard.

And beware the hanging chad of Florida fame; individuals have been cited for punch card violations because the chads weren't completely removed from the card. To add insult to injury, the 2005 punch card chads are NOT perforated like they have been in previous years; to punch out a card almost requires a Dremel tool (the latter being not too practical for boat/kayak divers).

In addition to the enforcement problems with punch cards, CDFG biologists have a problem with unreturned punch cards. The regulations first required that the punch cards be returned by the end of the year they were issued. Only 30% or 40% showed up so the regulations were changed to require the cards to be returned within 30 days of the close of the season. That didn't help much so the biologists have been wondering if they can get help from enforcement to go out and bust those abalone scofflaws. The recreational dive community has suggested using the returned punch cards in a raffle of dive kayaks or wet suits or something equally interesting to divers (prizes supplied by SCAN) but that idea has gotten less traction within CDFG than the enforcement route.

Law enforcement's biggest abalone concern are the sport-to-commercial poachers who are taking abalone for sale or barter. It's a significant problem and CDFG's Wildlife Protection Division (i.e., the wardens) had high hopes of using the punch cards to clip some of these jokers. But the enforcement problems encountered today were obvious and predicted consequences when the punch card idea was under discussion back in 1999. It should be no surprise to anyone that ill-intentioned divers are not filling out cards and buying multiple cards. Increasing the minutia of how punch card regulations are enforced IS catching more of the poachers (though, they do seem to be the dumber ones) but it's also catching a lot of well-intentioned divers as well.The result I'm seeing is increasing tension between the recreational community and law enforcement. This isn't the way it should be.

As a life-member of SCAN and one of the receational diving representatives on CDFG's RAAC, I know that law enforcement has gotten a lot of financial and moral support from the recreational diving community. SCAN has made substantial equipment purchases on behalf the wardens and has also partnered with CAL-TIP by offering rewards for information leading to convictions for poachers. RAAC has been equally supportive in going to bat for Punch Card revenues being used for warden overtime.

I really hate to see a growing chasm between recreational divers and the wardens, rangers and lifeguards charged with protecting our abalone resources from the real bad guy.

Last Modified: October 18. 2007

{norcadiver@sonic.net}