Crab poachers

[jackelope]

from the wdfw enforcement quarterly newsletter:

WDFW Officer Klump received information that non-tribal commercial crab gear had been spotted in the northern portion of the Quinault Special Management Area (SMA) which was set to open the next day at 8 a.m. Officer Klump spent much of the afternoon sorting out details and confirming regulations. The next morning, the coastal marine detachment got underway at 5 a.m. on the Corliss from Westport to head to the SMA location 2 hours north. As the CORLISS approached the area, the suspect vessel was sighted in the closure and it made a drastic course change from a north/south direction to due west. A very odd course change, but one that the CORLISS crew is used to seeing when suspects try to divert officers attention from the true activity they were engaged in. The CORLISS was able to catch up with the vessel just as it exited the closure. The CORLISS crew then diverted back into the SMA and quickly identified 136 commercial crab pots actively fishing there. The limit of crab pots once the SMA opened is 100 crab pots per vessel. The suspect vessel came back into the area just after 8 a.m. and Officer Klump and Officer Anderson boarded the suspect vessel off the CORLISS in rolling seas. The skipper and crew were interviewed and were directed to empty the crab out of 50 of their pots while other officers seized the remaining 86 crab and 100 pound crab pots for forfeiture proceedings.

[lokidog]

I don't know why they bother poaching them as they can take them just about year round up here in the San Juans.  Why is it that we have to record every single crab we catch but the commercial guys can bring in thousands?  Why not at least hold them to a higher standard by increasing the minimum size for commercially caught crabs.  They are profitting from a PUBLIC resource afterall.

[Mudeater]

and they did not seize the vessel? seems strange.