East Hampton Marine Patrol has received multiple reports of illegal shellfish poaching from concerned citizens since late August, following a front-page article in this newspaper highlighting the growing problem in local waters. Several reports could not be confirmed, but a number of others did make the police log, and were recorded as violations.
An East Hampton resident, M. Uchupailledelgad, was ticketed for clamming without a town shellfishing permit in Three Mile Harbor at around 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 28.
Late on the afternoon of Aug. 27, when Marine Patrol checked on a report of poaching in Northwest Creek near Northwest Landing Road, the two men found clamming, Juan Paucarpiedra and Alba Urgilezvasquez of Springs, each produced the proper license. They were ticketed nonetheless, for “clamming in uncertified waters.”
Erika Villa-Fajardo and Marlon Xavier-Fajardo of Hampton Bays were allegedly spotted taking blue-claw crabs from a Georgica Pond hotspot on the night of Aug. 27. They failed to produce the necessary permits and were cited for poaching.
Similarly, Yongkun Huang of Eastport was cited for taking blue-claw crabs in Georgica Pond without a license on the night of Aug. 25, during a Marine Patrol check of the pond. Officers stood by as he returned the haul to the water.
Jose Nugraguzman of East Hampton was crabbing in Georgica Pond Sunday afternoon with the proper permit, but Marine Patrol cited him for having a few undersize crabs in his possession. That night, Michael Morcho of Quogue and Jhonny Munozcando of Sag Harbor were ticketed at the pond for poaching blue-claw crabs without a permit, as were Josu Ramirezpeurta, Daniel Pined, David Gomez, and his brother Jose, all of Queens.
Also on Sunday night, Haokai Yin, Da Li, Weikai Li, and Chao Ma, all from Flushing, were cited for crabbing without a license.
Robert Albertell of East Hampton, who was clamming in Three Mile Harbor on Sunday around 2 p.m., was cited for failing to produce the required permit and for possessing 30 undersize clams. Not long after, Ben Agin of New York City was found in the harbor to have 14 undersize clams in his possession, and to be 150 clams over the 100-per-day limit.