New Abalone Tag Requirements

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urmaddad

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I recently purchased my new California fishing license with the required abalone report card and tags. Then I read the abalone regulations for this year. What I don't understand is what is the purpose of the tags? What do we do with the tags once we get home? Are the tags only for transporting the abalone? How does tagging cut down on poaching?
urmaddad
 

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Hey Urmaddad,

I am not a DFG spokesperson or a lawyer, but I do keep up on the latest rules and I belong to SCAN. Here is my take on it:

What I don't understand is what is the purpose of the tags?
The tags are to allow law enforcement to verify that an ab was taken lawfully. Prior to the tags, if they stopped someone on hwy 1 with 3 abs, for example, the person could say they were a gift and there was no way the DFG could verify what license or ab card, if any, was used to take this catch. Now they know IMMEDIATELY if they find abs with no tags they have caught someone breaking the law.

What do we do with the tags once we get home?
You don't need to do anything with them, just leave them on the shell. After you consume the ab, if you wish you can take the tag off but you had better destroy the used tag somehow. If you are caught with loose tags in your possession it is a violation, because it would be possible for you to take them back to the dive spot and use them again, so it is against the rules to have tags which are loose from the report card and not attached to a shell.

Are the tags only for transporting the abalone?
That's where the poachers are most vulnerable, but it's really for anywhere that they find abs. You really need to look at it this way: the tags are for us law abiding citizens to prove we are not breaking the law. It sucks that it has to be that way, but the poachers outsmarted the report cards. The DFG is not worried about people they find with tagged abs.... they are going to be looking for untagged abs... THOSE ARE THE POACHERS!!

How does tagging cut down on poaching?
Now that they made the tags a requirement, it's not about you and me who are law abiding citizens. It is about all of the poachers who will not be using tags... that's what the tags are for. The poachers will not have them, and the DFG can arrest or cite them with no further evidence needed. Now they changed it for kids under 16 too, they have to have tags, so the poachers can't bring their kids up there 7 days a week and have 6 kids all supposedly getting 3 abs a day and no way to keep track of the annual 24 per person limit.

I just hope it works!!!!
 
We can only take abs as recreational take, there is no longer a commercial fishery for abalone anywhere in California. There are some farmed abs being sold to restaurants, in fact there was a story on it on "dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe" where he had to harvest kelp and then feed the baby abs. At the end of the show they cook up some fresh farmed abs on the wharf on the tailgate of a pickup... and he comments on how good it tastes!! The farm in the show is housed under the wharf in Monterey, Ca.
 
I have had canned abalone trimmings from Mexico - very good.

But nothing beats our Red Abalones. Abalone season Tuesday April - I hope the conditions are good.

What do you mean by wild abalone from Mexico? Live, cooked, processed, relocating?
 
BrianM,

Great answer. Couldn't have done much better myself, and I get paid to do it. I'm working on fixing some issues with the new ab tags. We will have better tags next year.
 
The tags are fine. People are worried about accidentally tearing more off than needed. It is not like perforated paper than can be folded back and forth for easier tearing. The plastic is very tough.

Also divers are trying to punch out the entire chad sometimes ripping open the hole and having to make a new hole at the other end. If only half the chad is open (chad not removed), a cable tie will easily fit through the opening.

I can see if the chad was not connected at 2 places - the new version is pre-punched or only has 1 connection. Also if the tags were aligned differently so there are two rows and with a space in between. Complete using up row 1 before starting row 2. The current has the rows connected and jumping back and forth between rows to use.
 
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