Point Reyes Light - September 2, 1999
Fish and Game says Bolinas catch is contraband
Fish and Game wardens seized $1,000 worth of halibut and salmon from a Bolinas fisherman last weekend after he sold his catch to a retail buyer in San Francisco without the proper paperwork.
Fisherman Jeremy Dierks, 27, was cited for transporting fish without a license because he unloaded his catch in Bolinas but didn't document it, and then took it by truck to San Francisco, said Fish and Game warden Gary Combes.
But Dierks said he drove his nearly 400-pound load to the San Francisco buyer to have it weighed because he doesn't own a certified scale. Such a scale would have allowed him to sell the fish from his boat directly to the public, he said, without driving the load anywhere.
"I was waiting to get to the buyer because he has a certified scale," Dierks explained.
After Dierks sold his catch, however, the Fish and Game warden onsite told him to hand over the check he got for the fish and appear in San Francisco Superior Court on Oct. 20.
"That's standard policy," Combes said Tuesday. "We confiscated the catch because it was undocumented and as such, it was contraband."
To be fair to commercial fishermen who follow state Fish and Game regulations to the letter, as well as to protect the state's fisheries, the regulations must be adequately enforced, Combes said.
"There is a great amount of fish that is landed without documentation," he said. "It is one of our higher priorities to find out how this fish was landed and to account for it."
Combes said he could not say what penalties Dierks faces until he has completed his case against him. He noted that he warned the fisherman about other transgressions at the time.
But Dierks, with his paycheck confiscated, complained that Fish and Game wiped out three days of work and has implied he is a scofflaw despite the fact that he has paid over $800 for all his fishing permits.
"Why would I pursue all these licenses if I was trying to break the law," Dierks asked. "I felt I got robbed, basically."