Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife police officer Lanny McOmber recently investigated a tip about a commercial Dungeness crab vessel delivering undersized crab in Westport.

Officer McOmber responded to Westport and located an offload from the suspect vessel, and an initial inspection quickly confirmed the vessel had delivered undersized crab. The vessel’s 3,900-pound offload was set aside for inspection.

With the help of Fish and Wildlife Captain Dan Chadwick, an inspection of the entire offload revealed that the vessel had delivered 500 individual undersized Dungeness crab totaling 714 pounds — approximately 18% of the vessel’s total offload. The total value of the seized undersized crab totaled over $5,000.

Each individual undersized crab is deemed a Gross Misdemeanor violation with a maximum fine of $5,000 and a year in jail. The case could also be charged as a Class C felony with the value of the undersized crab totaling over $250.

“This is one of the worst violations of this kind we have seen in many years,” said Chadwick.

Chadwick further describes the impact of this violation:

“This situation is more than just letting a few undersized crabs slip through during the normal sorting process. This type of illegal activity puts a black eye on an industry where the majority of the fleet are professional fishermen who follow the rules. Commercial crab prices are the highest they have been in recent years and unfortunately this can sometimes lead to people trying to take advantage of the higher price. Undersized crab are next year’s harvestable breeding stock that managers count on to maintain a stable population.”

Charges will be referred to the Grays Harbor County Prosecutor’s Office. The undersized crab were donated to several local non-profit food banks.