By Sara Beth Williams–
A Citrus Heights man accused of poaching over a dozen red abalone appeared in court in Santa Rosa last week.
In a brief appearance before Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Kristine Burk, Andrii Chmukh, 34, asked to be provided with a Ukrainian language interpreter, according to news reports out of Sonoma County.
Judge Burk granted the request, and scheduled Chmukh’s next appearance for Jan. 5.
Chmukh was apprehended at night on Nov. 7, after California Fish and Wildlife officers noticed moving lights at Ocean Cove, south of Salt Point State Park, according to a report posted by the state agency on social media.
While surveilling from a distance, officers observed “several individuals” moving through the cove “and placing items into containers.” When the grove navigated back to an access road above the cove, “officers positioned themselves out of sight and waited,” before apprehending anyone, the media post reported.
They then were able to apprehend Chmukh, who was carrying a bag containing 15 poached red abalone, according to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.
That night Ocean Cove was experiencing a lower than even normal low tide, which created tide pools that exposed other features that are usually submerged, the agency said.
Chmukh was transported to the Sonoma County Detention Facility and booked on suspicion of taking and possessing abalone with intent to sell.
The California Fish and Game Commission voted in 2018 to suspend the harvest of the red abalone due to “drastically declining” populations. The meat of alabone, along with other mollusks, is considered a delicacy.
The 2017 closure of the northern red abalone fishery marked the end of all recreational abalone fishing, with no reopening planned as of 2025, making harvesting illegal statewide.
No additional arrests were made on the night of Nov. 7.
