Reel News April 2007

I'd like to welcome anyone who's interested in reading about what your Washington Fish and Wildlife Marine Officers do on a regular basis. The following passage is from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's Marine Captain-Mike Cenci. This is our first entry into the Puget Sound Anglers website, and we look forward to keeping you all up to date as to what's going on from a fish and wildlife officer's perspective.

Protecting your natural resources

OFFICERS NOTEBOOK

Captain Mike Cenci –WDFW Enforcement Program
Statewide Marine Division

The following are real life events and case investigations meant to provide a snap shot of fish and wildlife enforcement activity for the months of March and April. These examples were selected to show the diversity of issues Game Wardens encounter while on patrol protecting your natural resources. This list is by no means illustrative of all of our accomplishments for this period. The WDFW Enforcement Program is divided into two sections – Marine and Land. These scenarios primarily involve Officers assigned to the Marine Division, but this unit commonly assists Land-based detachments, and vice versa. All violations are considered to be alleged unless a conviction has been secured.

~ How not to meet your local Game Warden: Using judgment clouded by liquid courage and youth, three Central Sound men decided to play a prank that backfired in a major way. They called a taxidermist in eastern Washington and asked if he could mount a grizzly bear. The suspects told the taxidermist they killed one near Concrete on highway 20. The taxidermist told them No, used the “star 69 feature” and provided Fish and Wildlife Officers with the caller identification.

Officers located the suspect’s residence and began surveillance. Additional witnesses and suspects were located and Officers received a search warrant for the prime suspect’s cell phone records. The analysis of the records led to additional contacts, including one with a meat cutter who was asked to process a grizzly bear.

SURPRISE; the whole story was a joke. But the joke was on him. While the main suspect had cooked the whole thing up with two buddies to see what would happen, he forgot he and his friends had poached a 5 x 5 blacktail deer earlier in the year. Evidence of that kill was discovered, statements taken, and a follow up investigation launched. So instead of nailing a grizzly bear killer, the officers have a trophy deer poacher, who will most likely end up paying a large civil penalty in addition to court costs.

Moral of the story: If you are going to get drunk and use poor judgement…at least use someone else’s cell phone to make the call!

Routine marine patrol: Officers performed a boat patrol of Marine Areas 6, 7S, 8-1, 8-2, and 9 in order to check for closed season fishing activity. They contacted a lone boat in the Useless Bay Area of MA9. It was apparent that the fishermen were targeting halibut. They cited the individuals for no license, barbed hooks, and fish for halibut during the closed season.

~DUI arrest: Officer responded to a call for service regarding an SUV that was stuck in the ocean surf with four individuals trapped inside. He arrived as four individuals climbed out of the windows and waded to safety. Officer interviewed the driver who said that a wave just came out of nowhere and got him stuck. The officer pointed out that this is one of several reasons why driving in the surf is illegal. Another reason is potential damage to the razor clam beds that he had torn up on the way down to the surf. The vehicle was recovered within about ten minutes by a tow. Two liquor bottles were found in the back seat that the driver (who was only 18) was attempting to cover with clothing. After field tests he was arrested for DUI. Charges of reckless endangerment will also be pursued.

Search Warrant Service: Central Sound officers served a search warrant on a residence in Seattle in order to further investigate illegal wholesale fish dealing activities. The suspect is believed to be brokering poached abalone from Canada and laundering them as product of Mexico. Indications are that geoduck have also been brokered illegally and commercial catch accounting issues may be uncovered. Abalone and records pertaining to seafood transactions were seized and will be analyzed. A second search warrant was served on the suspects bank for records. Canadian Fisheries and Oceans Officers, NOAA Fisheries Agents participated in the event. It will take months to analyze and evaluate the evidence.

Border operation: North Sound Officers organized a large scale border emphasis at the Blaine and Sumas border crossings in conjunction with Customs. Many commercial fish and shellfish contacts were made from northbound and southbound traffic through both ports of entry. Officers inspected one truck with live lingcod, live king crab, and 1425 lbs of live manila clams. Certification tags are required to show that the clams were taken from a licensed, safe and sanitary growing area. There were no certification tags attached to the clams, but the driver provided some tags with numerous omissions and the tags only accounted for 250 lbs of the 1,425 pounds. Many appeared to be dead and the load had a foul smell. Officers seized and destroyed the clams – which we are required to do by law under these circumstances. Officers also followed up with the original fish dealer in Washington where the Canadian company claimed to have purchased the clams. The documents were not consistent with what truck driver had told officers at the border. Officers are trying to determine if illegally taken clams were mixed with legitimate harvest.

Tribal hunting case wrap up: Strait / Hood Canal marine officers recently testified at a bench trial involving a tribal hunter who was charged with trespass and big game hunting during a closed season. The individual was found guilty of both charges. This was the last of three tribal cases marine officers had filed in Clallam County in 2006. The two previous cases resulted in guilty pleas. One individual pleaded guilty to two counts of hunting big game (elk) during the closed season and three counts wastage, and the second individual pleaded guilty to one count of big game (deer) hunting closed season.

Drugs and clams: Coastal Officers assisted with developing probable cause and serving two search warrants. The case involved drug money being laundered through a commercial clam farm. Four pounds of marijuana was recovered at the first location. A marijuana grow was found in a house at a second location.

Drugs and wildlife: The County drug task force contacted a marine officers regarding possible wildlife violations they may have uncovered during the execution of a search warrant. The task force found several wildlife parts that included a fresh deer and elk hide, the head of a 2-point deer, and a suspected eagle feather. Officers followed up on their observation and seized the items. Several poaching charges have been referred to the prosecutor.

Some guys are tougher than us: While investigating a commercial crab case in Westport, an officer heard a deputy call for assistance at one of the floats. The deputy was dealing with a 300 lb individual who barricaded himself in his vessel. The individual used a knife and a gaff to keep the deputy away from the boat. After using a tazer on the individual 6 times and spraying him about 7 times with pepper spray, officers came to the conclusion the suspect was immune to these tools. After being tazed, the suspect would just rip the prongs out. After the coast guard and other officers arrived the individual was finally taken into custody.

Commercial crab: Coastal Officers spent several hours inspecting commercial offloads of crab in Westport when they discovered undersized crabs. Other officers were notified and assisted in measuring 15,974 pounds of crab for seven hours in the pouring rain. Officers found 804 pounds, or 5% of the entire delivery, to be undersized. The operator was cited.

Commercial case loss: An officer got a tip that an illegal commercial fish load was coming in to port. He involved the USCG who we commonly work with. The USCG had members of the Discovery Channel imbedded with them for an unrelated feature. The officer discovered halibut that were taken during the closed season. Personal use marijuana was also present in significant quantities. The case was dismissed after a Judge decided that while the officer had clear inspection authority, the search was not “reasonable” due to the presence of the Discovery Channel. The Discovery Channel crew never boarded the commercial boat during the search.

Commercial vessel seizure: A gill-net boat was recently forfeited to WDFW for it’s involvement in poaching 6 wild Chinook and one oversized sturgeon. Land officers had caught the suspect with the fish at 2:00 A.M. in the morning after a commercial tangle net season. Target species were hatchery Chinook. Criminal charges are still pending.

Cougar attempts to diversify menu: Officers in the Strait contacted a Sequim resident whose husband had shot at a cougar with birdshot. The cat had been seen a couple times around their chicken coop. The same reporting party believes that a cougar had killed one of their pigmy goats the day before. Officer will pursue with hounds.

Officers set the hook: A North Sound Officer interviewed a suspect in an ongoing illegal charter investigation. The individual admitted to “beginning to start” a charter business and taking a few clients fishing for a fee. He also stated that he was aware that such activities required a license issued by WDFW. The individual seemed unusually surprised when he was advised that what he referred to as two of his “most memorable” charter fishers were actually undercover WDFW officers. Case close-up and the filing of charges are to come.

Access area enforcement: Early one Sunday morning an officer conducted a sweep of local WDFW Access Areas in an effort to deter vandalism and illegal use of public lands. He found one individual that had driven his vehicle while his license was revoked for habitual traffic offenses. The officers search incident to arrest turned up a heroin needle that was in the suspect’s pocket. The suspect claimed that he “forgot” it was in there. The driver and his friend became combative and Whatcom County Deputies were called in to assist.

Thanks and we'll see you next time,

WDFW Enforcement Officer
Ryan Valentine

	Author	Topic: Reel News April 2007 (Read 610 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.