seeing as how Todd was an attorney, the funnest way to handle it might be to identify the owner of the boat and then file a huge civil claim against them. TMaybe get Marsha to get a few other claims, claim huge damages, and let them hire an attorney to fight it. Only cost would be the filing. Most likely they will try to ignore it, which then would leave them open to a default judgement, then you go after the boat.

We had a employee who stole a bunch of money. Sued, got the judgement, and 9 years later she got married and tried to buy a home. We ended up getting back all money in the end.

Let's not over complicate this identification thing. Given any sort of description of the boat the tribal folks will recognize it and know who owns it and probably who was operating it on the day in question. That is the good news about such a small community. Of course, the flip side is that there is a high likelihood of a family relationship.........and that is why the whole interlocal thing is, in my opinion, a joke on us since cooperation seems to run only one direction.

Not true. The Colville Tribe has a similar agreement with both Ferry and Okanogan County SO's.

Unfortunately WDFW made reporting a poaching even more confusing when they created the Poaching Hotline because now people call it 24/7/365, when in fact it is only manned Mon-Fri 8A-5P, this also includes the texting program WDFW created.

Bushbear is correct about the Lacey Act and it's "requirements". In addition to this there needs to be support from the US Attorney's Office in order to prosecute the violator. In this case NOAA/NMFS Law Enforcement would be the lead investigator since it is involving crabs and they would be the ones selling the case to the US Attorney, not WDFW.

Having worked in federal natural resource law enforcement I will tell you that there is probably no prosecutor with the US Attorney's Office that would take this case. Why? Because it is not worth it over a few crabs. Lacey Act investigations are typically for huge violations (thousands or millions of $) or for violations such as shooting an elk in a National Park and moving it.

Bigman:

Had not heard about the Colvilles so I stand corrected.

The issue here is not the observed crab theft(s) but, rather, where an investigation of those thefts might lead in terms of quantity, other violators and the potential common buyer and his/her customers.

But, of course, if no one wants to look then we'll never know, will we???

And my personal comments regarding the interlocal agreement(s) remain unaltered.

Lacey Act prosecutions are not always big ticket items. A lot depends on the USA office and how strong they might be on resource prosecutions. There have been/are some good attorneys in the USA environmental section.

Sometimes, smaller cases can work through the system. A lot depends on the strength of the relationship between the state and federal officers (WDFW, NOAA, NMFS, USFWS, BLM, USFS, NPS) and their track record with the USA office.

Politics can also enter the equation, which is unfortunate since the resource belongs to all of us.

AuntyM - If this was simply a casual theft for personal consumption I would agree with you but the reported comments from the Langley Police Chief and the County Sheriff imply something more. Plus, recent documented "commercial" cases in that area lend some support to the potential for a bigger, systemic problem. Kind of overkill to use that sized boat plus a skiff to steal a few crab for the pot.....

I'm not too familiar with the Lacey Act, but similar federal laws usually require that something be done "in commerce," which usually means interstate commerce. However, trade with Indian tribes and foreign nations also satisfies this "in commerce" requirement, so if the thieves are natives and selling to non-native buyers (or maybe stealing from non-native pot owners would count), you might have sufficient federal jurisdiction on that basis.

Here's link to a good overview of the Lacey Act. Personally, I think there is a good argument for a Lacey Act violation in this case, especially if further investigation shows a continuing criminal activity resulting in the illegally taken/acquired crab being entered into commerce or crossed a federal boundary.

http://www.animallaw.info/articles/arus16publlr27.htm

This totally fits within the Lacey Act after reading it. Whomever is buying these crab either suspects they are illegal crab or knows it. Either way there has to be documentation for every pound of crab a wholesaler has on hand. I think it has to start with them to get to the actual crab thieves. With totes on deck, I would think this is not a small deal, I'm guessing there is quite a lot of pounds of crab stolen and illegally sold to a wholesaler who is then in violation by either knowingly having illegal crab, or falsifying fish tickets to make it look legal.

Seems a shame that WDFW LE are out there counting rot cord strands and watching through binoculars to make sure that every crab is marked as it is pulled from the pot while once again turning a blind eye toward scofflaws out there thieving.

Once again we pay for our own oppression.


Fishy

Aunty, I jumped to the conclusion of a willful buyer because I thought every pound of commercially caught crab whether regular commercial or tribal needed to have fish ticket for the sale from crabber to wholesaler. I also know they had a season early in the summer and not now. I didn't know a particular tribal crabber had a quota. I thought they had seasons like the normal commercial dudes. So I then jumped to the conclusion that a buyer purchasing crab from a local crabber at this time would know it wasn't legal.


So, if you don't mind teaching me up, could you tell me more about the quota and how the sale of crab goes from a tribal crabber to a wholesaler.

Ricco, my Undercover Brother...
This was an entertaing read! Good to hear the new Chief in town wants these guys caught just like the rest of the locals fishing Saratoga!

Aunty, are tribal commercials under the same rule as non-tribals in which they aren't suppose to pull gear during darkness?

No overnight soaks or no unattended pots would be an awful rule for a great number of crabbers. That is the great thing about crabbing is you can be doing something else (like sleeping) while your pot is fishing.

Just remember folks the next time the issue of merging WDFW LE into WSP comes up, and it will, maybe We Sports Types need to sit it out and send the message that "Payback Is A Bitch"

So basically as it is now it is nearly impossible for their to be real repercussions from them illegally taking crab without, 1) a seriously thought out undercover long term sting operation by law enforcement of a couple different agencies, or 2) Witnessing an illegal act in progress and calling 911 in order to head off the perps while still underway all the while documenting as much of the crime as possible. Which sucks cuz it leaves the average crabber to be always on the lookout for illegal activity and forces you to be suspecting people which is not cool.

I'm sure more independent acts of illegal crabbing occur by sporties either on accident or by intention, but on a small scale as it effects poundage of crab. But I'm also sure the illegal acts by tribal commercials are huge in comparison as far as intent and poundage goes. Most likely the non-tribal commercials are right there with a selfish few finding sneaky ways to increase their check totals when selling to the wholesalers. Either way, the enforcement should be as vigilant for commercials of all type as it is for sporties and the intent of the acts should be equally reported and documented and publicized for the non sporties as it is for us.

So during the next crabbing opener, if yer in the vicinty of Langley and witness some funny activity going on, call 911 or call The Cheif of Police Randy Heston at 360-914-1559, his cell. Don't use this number frivolously please. But, keep it on hand cuz I guarantee you he will do his best to nail em and even though he's a small town cop, he's a crabber and has the means to take action even if that means he just has to get other LE involved.

I don't recall any discussion about no unattended pots which, by the way, would be absolutely impossible to enforce. There has been some past discussion about no overnight soaks which I believe had as its rationale the desire by LE to be able to observe activity by the owners of the pots. Lots of negative feedback to include folks traveling by boat who anchor up at night and wanted to be able to set pots overnight. Ended up with being able to soak overnight but not work pots during darkness (read the regs for the specific language).

To use the unlawful activities by third parties as an excuse to ban overnight soaks would garner a great deal of negative reaction - and rightly so!!!

As for fish tickets it is my understanding that any sale to a licensed buyer is supposed to result in a fish ticket submitted by the fisherman as well as the buyer. The buyer's fish ticket goes to WDFW but where the seller is tribal I am not sure if it goes to WDFW or the specific tribe or both. In any case this is where the most recent commercial scale violation (tens of thousands of pounds) avoided detection in that neither the seller (Tulalip) nor the commmercial fish buyer generated the required fish tickets.

That scheme was uncovered by WDFW LE backtracking paperwork from the retail level which is very manpower intensive which leads us to the issue of how little money from commercial harvest goes back to WDFW and especially compared to what has been and, more importantly, will be generated next year by the recreational community.

Any fish buyer purchasing crab commercially would reasonably know whether his sources are currently able to fish (crab) legally. What that buyer would not know is whether the crabber is simply fishing illegally or is stealing the crab from someone else. In any case the fish ticket would reflect the name of the fisherman delivering the catch anb hopefully tribal affiliation. Whether that buyer is also required to send a copy to the tribe is another question; seems logical and would help close the loopholes.

IF YOU ARE READING THIS HAVE YOU SENT IN YOUR CRC OR ACCOMPLISHED YOUR ON LINE RECREATIONAL SUMMER CATCH REPORT?????