LAGUNA BEACH, Calif. — A Riverside County man has been sentenced to a week in jail and fined more than $20,000 for poaching lobsters from the Laguna Beach Marine Reserve.
Department of Fish and Game Assistant Chief Paul Hamdorf says 30-year-old Marbel Para's conviction last week is the first since a new California law for marine protected areas went into effect Jan. 1.
Department of Fish and Game Assistant Chief Paul Hamdorf says 30-year-old Marbel Para's conviction last week is the first since a new California law for marine protected areas went into effect Jan. 1.
After midnight on Jan. 15, fish and game wardens found Para and a companion with 47 California spiny lobsters.
Even if Para had taken the lobsters from non-protected waters, he was well over the limit of seven lobsters per diver and all but five of the lobsters were undersize.
Para claimed the lobsters were all his and his companion wasn't charged.