A commercial fisherman from Vallejo is accused of illegally catching more than 250 Dungeness crabs at the protected North Farallon Islands State Marine Reserve, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced Friday.
On Feb. 11, an unidentified fisherman alerted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife of commercial Dungeness crab traps in the North Farallon Islands State Marine Reserve area, according to a complaint filed by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. The area is an important habitat for blue and humpback whale migration, and is not open to commercial crabbing.
Officers from the CDFW then found what appeared to be a line, also called a “string,” of 92 commercial Dungeness crab trap buoys in the southern part of the reserve, with tags marked with a license number that match a fishing boat owned and operated by Tam Tran of Vallejo, prosecutors said.
Tran allegedly received a permit in December 2020 that allotted him a maximum of 250 traps for that year’s fishing season, prosecutors said.
The 92 traps found in February comprised of more than 36% of the traps Tran received for the 2020-2021 season, prosecutors said.
“This is the most egregious case of unlawful crabbing activity in San Francisco’s history, as well as the largest incident of documented unlawful commercial crabbing in any Marine Protected Area in California,” prosecutors wrote in the complaint.
Tran admitted to officials from the California Department of Fish that he had 92 traps in the area and that he did not know fishing was prohibited there, prosecutors said. He told wildlife officials he thought restrictions were only for “draggers” and asked for leniency.
Officials were only able to size 70 traps and release at least 260 crabs back into the ocean, prosecutors said. Tran allegedly took the remaining 22 traps despite officials warning him not to, prosecutors said.
Tran allegedly sold $60,750 worth of Dungeness crab at San Francisco’s port in 2021, prosecutors said. So far this year, prosecutors said he has made $65,669.
Tran is facing a misdemeanor and a number of potential fines. Prosecutors ask the court in the complaint to assess a $2,500 fine for each allegation of unfair competition, “equal to $912,500 for the 365 violations alleged.”
Jessica Flores (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jessica.flores@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jesssmflores
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