Commercial crabbers and the tribal crabbers over in that area don't care for sports crabbers at all. The tribes have been known to pull pots and take the crab out....One of my friends who is well known in the fishing biz told me that he was actually thankful because the tribes atleast don't steal the pots...They are just taking the crab that they feel belong to them. The non-tribal commercials really have a chip on their shoulders because of what we have been doing to try to decrease their allocations and eventually buy them out so crabbing inside Puget Sound can be more equitably divided between commercials and sports crabbers.....Here is a short story to illustrate their arrogance:

I was in Westport not long ago visiting with friends Dave Vedder and JD Wade (author of the Shellfish Guide)....JD and Dave were crabbing in and around the harbor. Sports folks had tried to crab outside the breakwater but commercial pots were all over and the commercials were chasing people away and pulling their pots to send a message that the crab were theirs....Anyway JD and Dave had set a couple of pots inside the harbor near the Coast Guard station and boat launch...it is legal to use pots inside as long as the commercial season outside is open. They left the pots for a couple of hours....When they came back to camp they had no crab in any of the pots....At first they couldn't understand it at all until they noticed that the doors on the pots had been secured shut with wire ties....That's right! The commercial crabbers had pulled their pots and emptied them and tied the doors shut with wire ties so nothing could get in the pot.

I have listened to them talk down there and talked to locals about it. The commercials will vandalize your car and boat if they catch you crabbing in their neighborhood. They honestly believe that crabbing is reserved for commercials in Westport...and apparently everywhere else too.

The tribes have been watched while they harvest all the crab in an area outside their normal fishing grounds...especially in areas that were set up as sport only..(of course none of our fishing laws apply to them ) They don't throw anything back ....they tank them and take them back to their home area and reseed it.

Enforcement is similar to the wild West days of the OK Corral....The golden rule applies...He who has the gold makes the rules....The tribes and commercials have the gold and they make sure those who make and enforce the laws toe their line....Until that changes I would set your pots and sit close by to watch them...take pictures of abuse and send in to the news media, WDFW and DNR....publicize the rape of our resources or stand back and watch them disappear.