CDFW: five arrested for illegal lobster take at Goleta Pier before season opener

California wildlife officers arrested five people after patrols at Goleta Pier turned up out-of-season lobster. KSBY, citing the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, reported that officers worked the Santa Barbara County pier in the weeks before the recreational spiny lobster season opened Oct. 2.

On one patrol an officer contacted a person with five lobsters, four of them undersized. The next night another person had 10 lobsters, eight undersized. The following week officers watched three groups take lobsters out of hoop nets and put them in containers. They seized 28 lobsters from those groups, 16 of them undersized. In one case a suspect admitted hiding more lobster in a vehicle; officers found six more undersized lobsters there.

The five arrests were for taking lobster out of season, taking undersized lobster, and possessing more than the legal limit. CDFW said every lobster was returned to the ocean alive.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: KSBY — Five arrested in alleged lobster poaching at Goleta Pier (Oct. 15, 2026, citing the California Department of Fish and Wildlife).