ENCINITAS — A commercial passenger fishing vessel was fined $5,000 on Jan. 24 by a San Diego judge for illegal fishing in the Swami’s State Marine Conservation Area.
The case was initiated in December 2020 by California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers aboard their patrol boat as they patrolled the zone off the coast of Encinitas.
The tracking system, or M2, was installed on the City of Encinitas’ Marine Safety Center in November 2020, and used by Fish and Wildlife to confirm illegal commercial fishing inside the Swami’s conservation area.
In partnership with Wildcoast and ProtectedSeas, the City of Encinitas installed M2 at Moonlight State Beach with the intent of gathering boat activity data for research on illegal fishing and to aid enforcement. The Swami’s protected conservation zone spans from approximately Moonlight State Beach south to Cardiff State Beach, and west out to three miles.
Recreational fishing by hook and line from shore and spearfishing of white seabass and pelagic fish are the only forms of take allowed within the conservation’s boundaries.
Acting on a tip regarding illegal fishing in the area, Fish and Wildlife officers noticed a fishing vessel, Electra, inside the northwest corner of the conservation on their radar and approached the vessel.
Upon approach, wildlife officers noted passengers on the boat reeling in lines and keeping fish. After boarding the vessel for inspection, officers documented the fishing activity and cited the vessel’s captain for illegal fishing.
“The case was solidified with further documentation of the vessel’s presence in the MPA via the shore-based radar Marine Monitor vessel tracking system,” a release states.
In November 2021, the accused pleaded guilty to a violation of Fish and Game Code, section 12012.5, resulting in a fine of $5,000 and an order to stay out of Swami’s Marine Conservation Area for one year.
The fine and sentence was issued under Assembly Bill 2369, a bill authored by former Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, that elevates the fine for illegal fishing in marine protected areas to a minimum of $5,000 and charges the violator with a misdemeanor.
The state law went into effect in January 2019, and this is the first implementation of the increased commercial poaching fine. Additionally, this is the first time M2 technology has been used by California law enforcement to support the conviction of illegal fishing.
M2 is a 100% autonomous vessel monitoring system that can provide marine law enforcement with the ability to track vessels and illegal fishing in coastal waters, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The system’s machine learning tools help identify patterns that can assist law enforcement and lessen the financial burden of monitoring. Currently, six radar systems are installed along the California coast and have been deployed to over 20 locations globally.
“Our affordable, easy-to-use technology was designed specifically to monitor important marine places and identify illegal activities,” said Brendan Tougher of M2. “We are confident that our systems will continue to support law enforcement and public safety in the future.”
“The Swami’s SMCA (Swami’s State Marine Conservation Area) is one of the bigger state marine protected areas, so to monitor and patrol the entire site requires resources. The M2 helps Encinitas to cooperatively assist the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in the management and enforcement of this valuable marine ecosystem,” said Jayme Timberlake, the city’s coastal zone program administrator. “Use of this new tech is a win-win: it enables enhanced monitoring, providing 24-hour-a-day coverage of the MPA, which lessens the financial and time burdens on the enforcement agency.”
Swami’s State Marine Conservation Area, a popular surfing spot and one of 124 marine protected areas off California’s 3,000-mile coastline, was designated to protect the feeding and breeding grounds — like kelp and seagrass beds — for recreationally and commercially important species like lobsters and halibut, as well many other fish and invertebrates that are necessary for healthy ocean ecosystems.
“We are thrilled to see the Marine Monitor radar system successfully used to prosecute and convict an illegal fishing operator in the court of law,” said Jeff Morgan, executive director of Global Conservation, a non-profit organization deploying MPA Defense Networks around the world.
“It is exciting to see CDFW endorse emerging technologies and tools, such as Marine Monitor, to send a clear message to poachers that noncompliance in MPAs will lead to significant penalties,” said Waitt Institute Program Manager Cory Pukini. “Technology that expands enforcement capacity and marine domain awareness should be seen as vital to the successful protection of MPAs and applied broadly.”
