Category Archives: Selling animal parts

Remote-Controlled Electric Aircraft in California Reserves?

Posted on April 25, 2013 | Leave a comment
Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area (Photo by Robert Sahara)

Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area (Photo by Robert Sahara)

Question: I am a conservation advocate and an avid wildlife photographer. Over the last several years, I have been photographing birds and landscape views of Southern California’s wildlife areas. I am interested in expanding this documentation with video, and in particular aerial video taken from a remote-controlled electric helicopter. While I am very aware of the need to not disturb or harass local wildlife, I am wondering if there are regulations that restrict or prohibit the use of RC-aircraft in or around the perimeter of ecological reserves and conservation areas? (Bill K.)

Answer: There is no general prohibition against using radio-controlled “vehicles” in wildlife areas (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 550). However, in ecological reserves, prohibitions against: 1) disturbing any bird, mammal, etc.; 2) operating vehicles; and 3) operating any type of aircraft or hovercraft without permission may apply (CCR Title 14, sections 630(a)(1) & (a)(4) and (a)(17)). There is also a provision that prohibits the use of any motorized, hot-air, or unpowered aircraft or other device capable of flight or any earth orbiting imaging device to locate or assist in locating big game mammals beginning 48 hours before and continuing 48 hours after any big game hunting season in the same area (CCR Title 14, section 251(a)). In addition, a permit could be required if there are concerns your aircraft will “ … herd or drive… or disrupt animal’s normal behavior patterns, which includes, but is not limited to breeding, feeding or sheltering …”

Under federal regulations, this may be illegal if you are using the video for any commercial purpose.  “Under current federal aviation rules, using unmanned aircraft — what commonly are referred to as drones — for commercial purposes is prohibited in the United States.”

Please contact the Regional Manager for the area you intend to visit for information on the application of these laws. For a list of contact numbers available, please go to www.dfg.ca.gov/regions/.

Serving abalone at a fund-raiser?
Question: My husband and I are residents of both Humboldt and Sutter counties. We occasionally dive for abalone in Humboldt where we live. If we don’t consume them right away, we freeze them whole in the shell as the local game warden advised us years ago. I also work for a nonprofit hospice in Sutter County and they are having a fundraiser in May at a private house, where many of our staff will prepare appetizers for 100 guests. I want to prepare abalone appetizers from three abalone that we already have tagged and frozen from last season. The event is being professionally catered for the meal and dessert and so they are selling tickets, but no one is paying for or making money from the abalone I want to cook. The abalone is such a minuscule part of the meal. I just want to make sure I am allowed to bring it to an event like this and I was not able to find anything specific about that in the regulations. Please advise. Thank you. (Amy M., RN)

Answer: Sport-taken abalone may not be bought, sold, bartered or traded (Fish and Game Code, section 7121.) If sport-taken abalone are used for a non-profit fundraising dinner, then the cost of attending the dinner must be advertised as a requested donation to the organization putting on the dinner. In your situation, if you are just providing a few abalone for an appetizer, and as long as the dinner is not advertised to contain abalone in order to sell more tickets to the fund-raising dinner, then I think that would be ok. However, you should contact your local game warden where you will be having the dinner to confirm they are in agreement.

Running dogs with GPS for pigs and coons?
Question: Since bear and bobcat hunting with hounds is now banned in the state of California, can we still use GPS collars on hounds for hunting pigs, coons, etc.? (Dean C.)

Answer: You may use dogs to hunt raccoons and pigs, however, the use of GPS collars is prohibited (CCR Title 14, section 265(d)(2)).

Poke poling – need a license?
Question: Do I need a fishing license to poke pole for monkey-faced eels? (Anonymous)

Answer: Yes, the only exceptions are if you are 15 years old or younger or if you are fishing from a public pier or the most seaward jetty of a public harbor. Otherwise a fishing license is required and all regular fishing regulations apply.

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Carrie Wilson is a marine environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. While she cannot personally answer everyone’s questions, she will select a few to answer each week in this column. Please contact her at CalOutdoors@wildlife.ca.gov.

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Posted in Abalone, Licensing/Permits/Stamps/Report Cards, Lines/Rods/Equipment, Methods Of Take, Saltwater Fishing, Selling animal parts, Tackle, Uncategorized

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Why Don’t Wardens Release All Poached Animals?

Posted on March 21, 2013 | Leave a comment
Game Warden Kyle Kroll with K-9 detection dog, Buck, and the 57 poached abalone that they seized (Photo by Debra Hamilton for CDFW)

Game Warden Kyle Kroll with K-9 detection dog “Buck” and 54 poached abalone that they seized (Photo courtesy of CDFW)

Question: I support the work of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and want to congratulate and say thank you for all your services. However, I was watching an episode of “Wild Justice” recently and something didn’t seem right about the way the game wardens carried out a couple of operations. On the show, game wardens busted a poacher with 42 abalone. The wardens spied on a group and knew they were fishing illegally, so why didn’t they stop them when they came back to the beach? Why did the game wardens allow the group to pull the abalones away from the beach and wait? By the time you guys busted the group, all 42 abalone were dead. My 4-year-old daughter couldn’t understand why you didn’t catch the poachers as soon as they hit the beach so the abalone wouldn’t have had to die. Can you please give me an answer so that I can explain it to her? (Christopher R.)

CDFW K-9 detection dog with a poached abalone she seized (Photo by Debra Hamilton for CDFW)

CDFW K-9 detection dog “Coco” with a seized poached abalone (Photo courtesy of CDFW)

Answer:  Wardens are often faced with the dilemma of when to make contact on a poaching case. According to CDFW Lt. Patrick Foy, there are circumstances where a warden can make an excellent poaching case, contact the perpetrator, and return the live animals to the water/or wild. Those cases usually result in a fine. There are other times, such as the one you reference, where an effort needs to be made to prove that the perpetrator’s actions weren’t just a one time occurrence by a person who wasn’t aware of the law. If a warden can document that the perpetrator’s actions were planned, and intended to make a profit poaching wildlife, it is called commercialization. Commercialization cases are difficult to make, but when a warden makes them, they can lead to life-time revocation of fishing privileges, steep fines, and even jail terms. The wardens in the case you watched made the judgment that the loss of 42 abalone was necessary to permanently take the poachers out of business.

Wolves from another state?
Question: Is it legal to hunt and bring a wolf hide from another state into California? (Stephen H.)

Answer: It is legal to bring a wolf hide legally acquired in another state or province into California. You are required to complete a declaration of entry pursuant to section 2353 of the Fish and Game Code when the hide enters the state.

Fishing for crayfish in a stream closed to other fishing?
Question: Can crayfish be taken from a trout/steelhead stream closed to fishing?

Answer: Yes, taking crayfish by legal methods other than hook and line is allowed in streams closed to fishing. (See California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 5.35(e).)

Vintage Native American jewelry?
Question: I realize buying and selling bear claws is prohibited in California, but is there an exception in the law for vintage Native American jewelry? These old pieces often include bear claws in their designs, which are an important part of their culture. (Neil Z., Burbank)

Answer: No. The purchase or sale of the pieces or parts of any bear is prohibited in California. The law does not provide any exception for bear parts used in Native American art or ceremonial pieces of any age (Fish and Game Code, section 4758).

Maximum number of crab traps allowed?
Question: What is the maximum number of crab traps allowed for recreational fishermen? I see a limit of 10 hoop nets but nothing for traps or pots in the regulations. I’m fishing the Bodega and Tomales areas.

Answer: North of Pt. Arguello (just north of Pt. Conception), a recreational fisherman may use any number of crab traps or pots except when fishing from a public fishing pier, where the limit is two fishing appliances, such as crab traps or pots, per person.

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Carrie Wilson is a marine environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. While she cannot personally answer everyone’s questions, she will select a few to answer each week in this column. Please contact her at Cal.Outdoors@wildlife.ca.gov.

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Posted in Abalone, crabs, Fish and Game Code, Import/Export, Invertebrates, Religious/Cultural Use, Selling animal parts, Title 14, Transporting Taken Animals, Uncategorized

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Is it Legal to Ship Abalone to Others as Gifts?

Posted on November 22, 2012 | Leave a comment

Abalone must be shipped whole, in the shell with the tags attached (DFG photo)

Question: Is it legal to ship harvested red abalone as gifts within California and also out of state if the abalone is tagged and still in the shell? If yes, anything else we should be aware of? (Michelle G.)

Answer: There are ways to gift abalone to an out-of-state person, but you would have to abide by the following laws and check with out-of-state officials to make sure they allow importation of abalone. The following laws affect how abalone are shipped out of state:

  • No more than the legal bag and possession limit of three abalone may be possessed at any time (California Code of Regulations Title 14, section 29.15(c)). Therefore, you cannot ship more that three abalone at a time. Otherwise, the shipper and the person picking up the abalone would be exceeding the possession limit.
  • It is unlawful for a common carrier or his agent to transport, or offer for transport, or to receive for transportation from, any one person, during any interval of time, more than the bag limit of birds, mammals, fish, or amphibia which may legally be taken and possessed by such person during that interval (Fish and Game Code, sections 2346 and 2347).
  • Abalone in possession (including transportation) shall not be removed from their shell, except at which time they are being prepared for immediate consumption (CCR Title 14, section 29.15(g)).
  • Abalone must be shipped whole, in the shell with the tags attached (CCR Title 14, section 29.15(g)).
  • Any package in which birds, mammals, fish, or amphibia, or parts thereof are offered for transportation to, or are transported or received for transportation by, a common carrier or his agent shall bear the name and address of the shipper and of the consignee and an accurate description of the numbers and kinds of birds, mammals, fish, or amphibia contained therein clearly and conspicuously marked on the outside thereof (FGC, section 2348).
  • Fish and Game Code Section 2349 prohibits shipping of wildlife via the parcel post, so you will need to use a private shipper.

Again, different states may have regulations that prohibit or restrict the shipment of abalone. You should check with state authorities for their requirements. For example, here are some of the California laws regarding bringing abalone INTO California. Other states may have a similar law(s):

  • Importing Abalone – Abalone or abalone meat legally taken outside this state may be imported into this state when accompanied by a U. S. customhouse entry certificate showing the place of origin, and a certificate or clearance from the responsible governmental agency to the effect that such shipment was made in compliance with the laws and regulations of the place or country of origin, and such abalone or abalone meat may be possessed in this state and shipped or transported out of the state, but all containers of such abalone shall be marked with the abalone’s place or country of origin (FGC, section 2371).
  • All species of Haliotis except our native species are on the Restricted Species list (CCR Title 14, section 671), which means that a restricted species permit is needed to import such live animals for any reason (including terminal food, hobby aquarium markets). Abalone are on the restricted list because of concerns that some very important diseases know to occur in some abalone in Australia and Asia could find their way to California abalone, and we need to prevent this from happening.

Waterfowl possession limit
Question: If I have a current valid hunting license and appropriate state and federal duck stamps, can I transport more than two limits in my vehicle if I am by myself and the other limits are properly tagged and dated with the other hunters’ license number? Or will that put me in violation of the possession limit? (Dick T.)

Answer: This would be legal. Just be sure that the tag contains ALL of the information required by law, including the date of kill, species and sex of the duck as well as the name, address, hunting license number and signature of the hunter.

Selling Deer Hides?
Question: I’m a hide tanner and was recently talking with a butcher about getting deer hides from him but he was worried about giving them to me. He seemed to think that I would need to have a deer tag for every deer hide. Can you tell me what the legalities are concerning deer hides? I would like to make use of the hides that are being thrown away. Also, do you know of any deer hide sources for me? (David Creamer)

Answer: It is legal to buy and sell (or gift) lawfully taken deer hides (Fish and Game Code, section 4303). The person receiving the hides is not required to have a hunting license or tag. However, it’s a good idea for both parties involved to keep records of the transactions to protect against false accusations that the hides were acquired illegally.

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Carrie Wilson is a marine biologist with the California Department of Fish and Game. While she cannot personally answer everyone’s questions, she will select a few to answer each week. Please contact her at CalOutdoors@dfg.ca.gov.

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Posted in Abalone, Food/Health, Import/Export, Selling animal parts, Taxidermy, Transporting Taken Animals, Uncategorized, Waterfowl

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