Here in Australia poaching is a real problem too. One of the best known poachers made so much money from it that he had a boat custom built that could outrun anything the police had.
They finally did catch him and now they have a boat that is as good as his was - the Courts confiscated his and gave it to the cops
To fish for abalone here in Australia you need a licence and the cost of the licence is huge.
In some parts of Australia the biggest hazard for abolone divers are sharks - more than one has only come to the surface in several well chewed pieces.