The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) cited a woman for illegally taking abalone after they caught her hiding two of the endangered species down her pants.
While observing two individuals collecting purple sea urchins at Van Damme State Park in California, a wildlife officer observed the female individual discreetly conceal something in her pants. Believing that the mysterious object was an abalone, the officer made contact with the pair in the parking lot and asked what had been concealed. At that point, she took a small abalone out of her pants.
“Suspecting that this abalone might not be the only one, the officer requested assistance from a female wildlife officer to conduct a search,” CDFW said in a social media post. “Once this was explained, the suspect voluntarily produced a second abalone from her pants, confirming the officer’s suspicions.”
The individual was cited for the illegal take of abalone.
In December 2025, CDFW detained an individual for harvesting 15 red abalone at night. He was detained and booked for taking and possessing abalone with the intent to sell them.
Once a lucrative commercial fishery, California regulators ended abalone harvesting in 1997 following a population drop caused by overfishing. White and black abalone are still listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
“Illegal harvest (poaching) of black abalone continues to be a problem, particularly along remote stretches of the Central California coast where numbers of black abalone are relatively high,” NOAA Fisheries said. “Illegal harvest reduces black abalone abundance in the wild, further reducing the ability of populations to reproduce and sustain themselves over the long term.”
