Taking Aim at Wildlife Infractions : Fish and game: In the early 1990s, prosecutors wouldn’t even review the cases. That’s changed, and potential violators are thinking twice.

The two fishermen unloaded undersized halibut, angel shark and white sea bass onto a small truck at the Ventura Harbor early one morning last December. But a warden from the California Department of Fish and Game reeled them in before they could flee.

The warden discovered the protected species stashed inside large barrels and cited Nhon Tran, a commercial fisherman from Los Angeles, for violating half a dozen fishing laws. The second man was not charged.

In court, Tran pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors and was sentenced to 12 days in jail.

The case illustrates how Ventura County is shedding its reputation for ignoring crimes against fish, animals and the environment.

In the early 1990s, county prosecutors refused even to review fish-and-game cases. But since mid-1993, when those prosecutions resumed, game wardens have been handing out about 500 tickets a year, twice as many as before.

And about 480 of those citations have led to criminal cases, authorities said.

One man stands charged with a felony for killing a bear. Several commercial fishermen have been convicted for taking too many sea urchins from the ocean. And a Ventura couple were fined for refusing to get rid of their wild African cat, which frightened neighbors.

Prosecutors, game wardens and even those charged say that potential violators are now thinking twice before violating environmental laws.

“I think it sends the message that if we feel it’s in the interest of justice, fish-and-game violations will be prosecuted by this office,” said Ventura County Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald C. Coleman.

Though Los Angeles County and other surrounding areas have long enforced laws protecting nature, budget cuts forced Ventura County--one of the most scenic and naturally fertile areas in the state--to give up most fish-and-game prosecutions in 1991.

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Some authorities believe that the policy encouraged unscrupulous commercial fishermen and hunters from across Southern California to prey on the county’s natural resources.

“They would publicly boast that they were doing it because they knew that there were no prosecutions taking place,” said Lt. Chris Long, who heads the local fish-and-game office.

But when prosecutors reopened their Fish and Game Unit in August, 1993, the number of citations issued by game wardens jumped by about 200 a year, Long said.

“It had to do with just more morale and the feeling that [without prosecutions] there was no backing from the D.A.,” Long said.

In Los Angeles County, where deep budget cuts have also hit the district attorney’s office recently, fish-and-game prosecutions have never been sacrificed, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Heflin, who heads the Environmental/OSHA Unit.

Heflin said such policies only encourage violations of environmental laws.

“Certainly we have budget problems, and we are strained to the limit,” he said. But cutting off fish-and-game cases would be a drastic measure, especially with the responsibility for two major local harbors, he said.

Ventura County prosecutors stopped handling fish-and-game cases, as well as a number of other nonviolent misdemeanors, after about a fourth of their Misdemeanor Unit was gutted in the early 1990s.

Today, however, the office has a prosecutor assigned exclusively to reviewing such crimes. That attorney, Christopher S. Harman, said most citations are for fishing without a license. Other cases include being cruel to animals or taking more fish than allowed.

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One convicted felon is accused of shooting a bear out of season. Harman said the defendant shot the animal once and then pursued it into the wild at night and shot it twice more. When authorities discovered the bear, its gallbladder was missing.

In some cultures, authorities say, bear gall bladders are considered aphrodisiacs.

“I get a lot of strange cases, weird cases,” Harman said.

Several citizens have been prosecuted for keeping wild animals in city neighborhoods. That charge landed James and Tamara Muro of Ventura before a criminal judge.

On a trip to Las Vegas, the Muros bought an African serval cat. It is legal to own such cats in Nevada, but not in California. James Muro, a filmmaker, said he and his wife initially planned to use the slender animal in a movie.

In October, a game warden seized the cat, after complaints from the Muros’ Pierpont-area neighbors. Officials allowed the Muros to ship the cat to relatives in Nevada, but two months later the couple brought the animal back to Ventura, to the surprise and dismay of their neighbors.

This time, officials seized the cat for good and filed criminal charges against the Muros, who were convicted of a misdemeanor and paid $1,375 in fines, court costs and other penalties. Tamara Muro was also ordered to do 60 days community service at a wild animal park.

“Truly, the cat was not hurting anybody, but maybe they prevented a big incident,” James Muro said. “We’ve since seen full-grown servals in the animal park. They’re big, man. They’ve got big teeth. I assume if they were [angry] they could bite somebody.”

In other cases, prosecutors have charged defendants arrested in drug raids with illegal possession of wild animals. A Simi Valley narcotics bust yielded two raccoons. A Ventura raid turned up a poisonous Asian cobra and four diamondback rattlesnakes.

Wardens say the authority to issue criminal citations makes their jobs easier. When prosecutors were declining to accept fish-and-game cases, the wardens could issue only administrative citations.

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Unlike criminal prosecutions, civil hearings take up to three years to be set and do not carry jail time or asset forfeiture as penalties.

Game wardens say many hunters, fishermen and pet owners seem to support their mission. When Warden Scott Melvin recently cited hunters for carrying too many shells in their shotguns, they graciously took their ticket and insisted the officer share a cup of Turkish coffee.

Fishermen seem to understand the warden’s job as well.

“They keep it more organized,” said Fidel Cueva, 32, as he accepted a ticket from Melvin along the Rincon, where he was fishing sans license.

Still, there are people such as John Cesario Sr., 46, who feel wardens should have better things to do with their time.

Ticketed as he fished at Oil Piers Beach south of La Conchita, Cesario said he can’t see how he was causing any harm to the environment.

“It’s a big ocean,” protested Cesario, who insisted he simply had left his license at home. “You didn’t used to need a license for the ocean.”

Melvin said he tries to put potential violators at ease, especially fishermen he suspects of hoarding illegal species in their buckets.

“They’ll say, ‘We don’t have any fish,’ but I’ll say, ‘Do you mind if I take a look in there to make sure nothing swam in while you weren’t looking?’