Game Wardens Arrest Two Poaching Suspects in San Jose

Media Contact:
Warden Patrick Foy, DFG Law Enforcement, (916) 508-7095

Based on intensive surveillance over the last several weeks, California game wardens arrested two suspects for commercialization of sport-caught fish and Dungeness crabs.

Tam Van Tran, 62, and his wife Lanh Thi Nguyen Tran, 59, both of San Jose, were arrested this morning during service of a search warrant related to an ongoing poaching investigation. Department of Fish and Game (DFG) wardens observed the suspects routinely taking fish, including sturgeon, and crab under the authority of a recreational fishing license, then illegally selling their catch on the black market. Neither suspect has a commercial fishing license, and both are repeat sturgeon poaching offenders.

“Commercial sale of sport-caught fish and crabs can significantly affect the population of these species as a whole, especially with sensitive species such as sturgeon,” said DFG’s Capt. Bob Farrell. “It ultimately harms the honest anglers who follow the laws, and impacts the very species the regulations were established to protect.”

Based upon surveillance, game wardens allege the pair conspired to profit from the sale of sturgeon, striped bass and Dungeness crabs with a black market network of buyers (businesses and individuals) that they have developed over the years.

The volume of the fish taken by both suspects has DFG personnel most concerned. Though suspects were under investigation for only a few weeks, they have been on the wardens’ radar for more than one year, thanks to tips from the public. They were known to fish throughout the year in many locations in the San Francisco Bay Area and along the coast.

Both suspects face felony conspiracy charges and multiple poaching-related charges.

2011 Marine Invasive Species Report Identifies New Threats to California’s Ecology

Media Contacts:
Steve Foss, DFG Marine Invasive Species Program, (916) 341-6958
Randy Imai, DFG Office of Spill Prevention and Response, (916) 324-0000
Alexia Retallack, DFG Office of Spill Prevention and Response, (916) 322-1683

Four new non-native aquatic species have taken up residence in San Francisco Bay, according to a new report published by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG). The 2011 Invasive Species Report includes the first records of the appearance in the San Francisco Bay of four species previously found only in other parts of the coast. These organisms include:

• Caprella simia, a Caprellid, or “skeleton” shrimp, which was first discovered in California’s Long Beach Harbor in 2000. C. simia is a Japanese species, probably introduced by fouling or ballast water and considered likely to spread north. It is now widespread in San Francisco Bay.
• Nicolea sp. A Harris, an undescribed polychaete worm, was first found in California in 2000 in San Diego Bay and Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor. Possible vectors include ballast water and fouling on ships or recreational boats.
• Grateloupia lanceolata, a red alga native to Japan and Korea, has been found for the first time in the Port of Oakland and in Richardson Bay. This species was previously found at Santa Catalina Island, Port Hueneme and Moss Landing. It has been working its way up the coast.
• The collection of Amphibalanus eburneus (ivory barnacle) from Richmond and San Francisco marinas confirmed new distribution records for the San Francisco Bay.  Although one specimen had been collected from a ship’s hull around 1938, no other occurrences were documented in the Bay during the intervening time.  More recent California observations of this North Atlantic native had been limited to Colorado Lagoon (Long Beach) and Huntington Harbor.

DFG’s Marine Invasive Species Program (MISP) conducts biological surveys to monitor California coastal and estuarine waters to determine the level of invasion by non-native aquatic species (NAS). The triennial report covers July 2008 through June 2011 and describes results of field surveys for NAS in the San Francisco Bay Area, as part of long-term monitoring efforts of its ports, harbors, estuaries and the outer coast.

MISP, housed in DFG’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response, employs a variety of programs with partners to gather report data. Programs include:

• A survey of 50 sites in 2010 and molecular analysis of NAS in the Bay
• A two-year pilot program to detect NAS using a “next-generation” sequencing process to analyze the DNA extracted from samples collected from artificial settling plates
• A collaborative study with Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) to examine the transfer mechanisms (vectors) likely responsible for marine introductions to the state
• An MISP-funded genetic study of the difficult-to-identify “Breadcrumb” sponges by Moss Landing Marine Laboratories Genomics Lab.

MISP monitors coastal and estuarine waters of California for new introductions of NAS that could have been transported into state waters in ballast or as hull-fouling. Research with SERC shows that of the 290 NAS (excluding fish and vascular plants) with established populations in western North America, 81 percent were first recorded in California. Of the 257 NAS established in California, 61 percent were first recorded in San Francisco Bay and 57 percent are known from multiple estuaries, suggesting secondary spread. Ballast water and hulls of ocean-going ships remain the primary mechanisms responsible for bringing species to California in recent years.

NAS affect the structure and function of ecosystems through declines of native and commercial fisheries, parasite interactions with native species and humans, and physical habitat alteration. Non-native species can compete with native species; approximately 42 percent of the species on the federal threatened or endangered species lists are at risk primarily because of predation, parasitism and competition from non-native species. Approximately 40 percent of the species forced to extinction in aquatic ecosystems are due to biological invaders.

Find the report can be found at www.nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=40420 and the appendix is located at www.nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=40422.

The data from the monitoring efforts can be viewed at www.dfg.ca.gov/ospr/Science/invasive_species.aspx.

DFG Invites Public Comment on American Pika Proposal

Media Contacts:  
Scott Osborn, DFG Wildlife Branch, (916) 324-3564
Cristen Langner, DFG Communications, (916) 322-8907

The California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) is seeking public comment on a proposal to list the American pika as an endangered or threatened species.

Photo courtesy of A. Tshcherbina

American pikas (Ochotona princeps) are small lagomorphs (relatives of rabbits and hares) that inhabit broken-rock habitats such as mountain talus slopes. In California, they typically live at moderate-to-high elevations in the southern Cascades, Sierra Nevada and mountain ranges of the Great Basin. Climate change is considered to be the primary factor that impacts pika populations in California, although mining, grazing, disease and other factors may have an effect as well.

In April 2007, the Center for Biological Diversity submitted a petition to the Fish and Game Commission to formally list the American pika as a threatened or endangered species. As part of the status review process, DFG is soliciting public comment regarding the pika’s ecology, biology, life history, distribution, abundance, threats, essential habitat and recommendations for management.

Comments, data and other information must be submitted in writing to:

California Department of Fish and Game
Nongame Wildlife Program
Attn: Scott Osborn
1812 Ninth Street
Sacramento, CA 95811

Comments may also be submitted by email to pika@dfg.ca.gov.

All comments received by March 15, 2012 will be included in a DFG report to the Commission that will be submitted on or before the due date of Oct. 26. Following the receipt of the report, the Commission will allow a 30-day public comment period prior to taking any action on DFG’s recommendation.

DFG’s petition evaluation report for the American pika can be found at www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/publications/.