Fishy? Woman Cited After Allegedly Stashing Abalone in Her Pants at Mendocino Beach

The two fisherfolks [Image from CDFW]

According to a press release from the department, an officer using a spotting scope observed a man and woman in the intertidal zone legally “taking purple sea urchins” when the officer saw the woman “discreetly conceal what appeared to be an abalone down her pants.”

(We believe this might be called an intertidal violation with…um…distinctly inland storage.)

The officer left the observation point and contacted the pair in the parking lot before they reached their vehicle. During a license and catch inspection, the officer asked the woman what she had concealed. “She then produced a small abalone from inside her pants,” CDFW stated.

Suspecting the situation might involve more than one shellfish, the officer requested assistance from a female wildlife officer to conduct a search. According to CDFW, once the woman learned this, she “voluntarily produced a second abalone from her pants, confirming the officer’s suspicions.”

CDFW reported that “no additional abalone was found.” The woman was cited “for the illegal take of two abalone.”

The male subject, meanwhile, emerged from the encounter entirely mollusk-free. According to the department, “the male subject was found in compliance and did not possess any abalone.”