A scuba diver from Riverside County is accused of poaching dozens of lobsters in a marine protected area in Laguna Beach, officials said.
Marbel A. Para, 30, of Romoland and a companion were scuba diving in the Laguna Beach State Marine Reserve after midnight on Sunday when wardens with the state Department of Fish and Game spotted them.
The site, which has been closed to lobster fishing for years, sits in the Heisler Park area off the coast of Laguna Beach.
After the divers got out of the water and returned to their vehicle, wardens made contact with them and discovered 47 California spiny lobsters. Lobsters can fetch $30 on the black market in some areas, officials said.
In addition to illegally taking the lobsters from a marine protected area, the divers were over the legal limit of seven lobsters per diver. All but five of the lobsters were undersized, officials said.
Para claimed that all the lobsters were his, and his companion was not cited, officials said.
This is the first major violation that wardens have cited in any of the Southern California marine protected areas since they went into effect in Southern California on Jan. 1, 2012.
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The marine protected areas were created through the Marine Life Protection Act in order to allow fish that have been in severe decline to grow.
“The vast majority of our fishing and diving constituents are responsible and law-abiding,” said Fish & Game Assistant Chief Paul Hamdorff. “It is always our goal to catch those who choose to intentionally abuse the resources of this state for their own benefit.”
Wardens cited Para for several poaching violations including unlawful taking and illegal possession of lobster, and possession of overlimits and undersized animals.
Officials confiscated the lobsters, photographed them as evidence and then returned them to the ocean.
State wardens say they had a similar bust late last year in Redondo Beach.
"It happens a lot more than we would like," said Hamdorff.
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