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POTTER VALLEY MAN DRAWS FINE, JAIL IN
ABALONE CASE
Published on November 6, 2002
© 2002- The
Press Democrat
BYLINE: Steve Hart
PAGE: B5
COLUMN: Around the Empire
A 32-year-old Potter Valley man was sentenced Tuesday to a
year in jail and fined $15,000 for poaching abalone
from the Mendocino County coast.
Larry St. Clair was convicted of violating the state's
fish and game laws. Wardens had observed him taking more than
60 abalone in less than an hour from the ocean in
February near Russian Gulch State Park.
Sport divers are limited to three abalone a day and
24 a year.
Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the state Department
of Fish and Game, said wardens put St. Clair under
surveillance after receiving a tip that he was poaching
abalone.
Authorities said he was using scuba-diving gear to
harvest the mollusks, which is illegal.
Wardens found 40 abalone in a freezer at St.
Clair's home. They said he was suspected of poaching several
thousand abalone last year and selling the catch in San
Francisco.
Commercial harvesting of abalone is illegal.
St. Clair was sentenced Tuesday in Mendocino County
Superior Court, according to Martarano.
In addition to his jail sentence and fine, St. Clair
also forfeited his boat, trailer and diving gear.
-- Steve Hart Keywords: FISHING CRIME SENTENCE
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