When Charlotte Russ visited Pismo Beach last November, she expected her children to play in the sand and collect shells.
She didn’t expect them to collect 72 undersized Pismo shells, which would accidentally break local rules and earn her an $88,000 fine.
“My kids only had plastic play toys and they tried to dig in the sand,” Russ said. “They thought, ‘These are shells, wow!'”
The San Luis Obispo County Superior Court initially fined the Fresno resident $88,993 for fishing without a license and collecting undersized mussels, court documents show.
But after Russ argued her case in court, the judge took pity on her and ultimately reduced the fine to $500.
“I was so grateful,” she said.
In San Luis Obispo County, a person can harvest only ten Pismo mussels per day, and they must be at least 4.5 inches long, according to Lt. Matthew Gil of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The mussels are recovering from a history of overfishing, and the size limit gives the mussels enough time to mature and reproduce, which maintains the population, he said.
Clams must also have a valid fishing license and an accurate measuring device and, according to Gil, they can only harvest mussels from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.
Those who dig up undersized mussels should rebury them 2 inches deep in the sand.
“Clams can’t bury themselves,” Gil said. “If they are not reburied, they will simply fall on top of the surf and be picked up by a seagull and die.”
It is not uncommon for people to run afoul of clamming laws in Pismo Beach.
In 2023, 58 citations were issued to people for harvesting undersized mussels — including the citation to the Russ family, Gil said.
And another 61 citations have already been issued this year, he said.
Fresno family fined for collecting 72 Pismo shells
Russ knew none of that information when she, eight children in tow, and a friend embarked on a fall trip from Fresno to Pismo Beach. Their children ranged in age from 4 to 11, she said.
Russ, her friend and the younger children sat on the sand, while the five older children ran off to play closer to the water.
Russ hadn’t noticed the signs about clamping rules, so she didn’t know it was illegal to harvest undersized mussels.
The older children saw the Pismo shells and thought they were shells, so they filled their plastic buckets with 72 of the crustaceans.
“My kids came back with a couple buckets of shells — or what they thought were shells,” Russ said. “As soon as I saw them I thought, ‘Oh, those aren’t shells, take them back right away.'”
But it was too late.
As the children turned to put the mussels back in the water, an officer approached the group.
“I had no idea why they were in trouble,” Russ said. “I was actually hoping he would give an explanation, or even just explain to my kids what they had done wrong, because we really had no idea – but he just refused.”
He pulled the mussels out of the bucket and lined them up to count, “similar to a drug bust,” Russ said. Then the officer wrote Russ a ticket for collecting undersized Pismo shells.
“It was really hard for me to wrap my head around it at the time,” she said. “I was in shock.”
The officer did not tell Russ what he did with the mussels after confiscating them, she said.
After Russ returned to Fresno, she received a An $88,993 fine in the mail associated with her ticket.
“When I opened it, I was just shocked,” she said. “When I saw that $88,000 figure, I just couldn’t believe it.”
She went to small claims court to address the ticket, and the judge reduced the fine to $500, Russ said.
“I was so grateful. I was actually emotional in the courtroom,” Russ said. “It was almost as if she had seen this multiple times.”
The day she won her case, Russ got a tattoo of a seashell to commemorate the experience.
“It definitely makes me laugh now,” she said. “We have learned our lesson. I’ll just be more respectful and careful, especially when we’re in places where we don’t know everything about the area. My kids know it very well, and I love that they know it now.
The mussel population is returning
Clams are an important part of Pismo Beach’s history. The city even called itself the Clam Capital of the World in 1947.
The Pismo shellfish nearly disappeared in the 1990s, which could have been caused by overharvesting by fishermen and sea otters. It wasn’t until around 2016 that they reappeared on local beaches.
“We don’t know exactly why they disappeared in the first place and why they’re back now,” Gil said.
Fortunately, the mussel population appears to be recovering.
In 2019 and 2020, biologists saw the “great pop explosion happen,” Gil said, when mussels reappeared on the coast in large quantities.
In 2023, someone found the first 4.5-inch Pismo shell in SLO County since the 1990s, Gil said.
This year, people are finding enough large mussels to harvest 10 at a time, but only in certain spots on the beach, Gil said.
‘You have to be careful where you are. Near the Pismo Pier you will find thousands of Pismo clams, but none will be legal size,” Gil said. “There are people, especially locals, who have discovered it.”
In the past, people only received fines for harvesting undersized mussels. Now people are also being cited for harvesting legal-sized mussels without a fishing license, mixing their 10 mussels with someone else’s, or failing to rebury undersized mussels after they are dug up, Gil said.
Gil advised tourists to inform themselves about local clamping regulations before their visit. He also told them to be aware of the signs posted on the pier and beach advertising the clamming rules.
Pismo clams have a “shiny, smooth finish,” a triangular shape and horizontal stripes, he said. In living mussels, both shells are pressed together. Dead mussels are said to be open or missing one of their shells.
“When you pick up a shell, you should be able to see the inside of the shell.” Gil said.
He said locals have reported mussel poaching to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, which is helping them with enforcement.
“Locals in SLO County have done a great job taking ownership of the mussels,” he said. “It was nice to see that.”
