Beaches from Tulalip to Pt.Defiance have been closed for years. When I inquired about the perennial closure I was told by Pierce Co. Dept. of Health that it was due (pardon the pun) to pet waste contaminating surface water run off. (Hmmm, so the seals are toilet trained??)

Anyway, closure not caused by Seattle's waste water plant disaster.

I see. It's just the pet poop that's bad. All the human poop,heavy metal and petroleum polluted run off is to be ignored.

Let's not forget the Pinnipeds, too. They have been responsible for some beach closures, as have geese.

While Keta's comment about human poop is funny, DNA analysis on the fecals often shows it is cat, dog, etc. One of the more embarrassing uses of the DNA analysis was when regulators were pointing fingers at dairies for fecal contamination in a river, the real culprit was the elk herd.

Apparently, each type of mammal and bird harbors different E. coli.

I saw people digging clams this week. The sign saying "beach closed to digging clams" doesn't apply if your Engrish no too good.

Just back from a week in the San Juans. Cruised all around and saw lots of tribal activity, especially on the Tues. Wed. closure for recs. They really have it down blanketing certain areas. I was impressed watching them deploy, like the commercials out of OR that I have seen on TV. They seem to target deeper areas, 100-150'. In our cruiser we would anchor in fairly shallow coves to relax and set and do pretty good. Like 3-6 keepers per pot w/ lots of females and subleagals on a 2-4 hr soak. Lots more than I've seen in So. PS. Seems healthy up there.

Yes they have the capacity to blanket areas—for instance late last August on a THURSDAY the total drop off area around the sort of crescent shape of the Everett jetty was stuffed with commercial pots leaving very little space for rec's from the south side of the jetty to mission bar and beyond.

With that kind of capacity, it shouldn't be a surprise if not much crab left for recreational crabbers if preseason abundance projections do not materialize.

Hope that they weren't going to a retail outlet near you......like the illegally harvested crab.

Those same beaches are open for Geoduck harvest. Just no recreational opportunity.

I have not even seen a keeper Dungie in the lower canal, MA12.

I know crabbing has not been good in area 10 but people are trying hard to get some. We were out early Tuesday morning hoping for a salmon in Northeast 10. My wife commented that crabbing must not be good because the number of pots was less than normal. When we returned to the ramp at Shilshole two WDFW enforcement boats were at the ramp offloading crab pots. That is when we realized, Tuesday crabbing is closed. I don't know how many pots they had but a large flatbed trailer was full, stacked at least 5 high with all kinds of pots. My guess would be some where between 50 and 70. When we pulled out the two boats were going back out, headed North, where we had seen many pots. I suspect they found another trailer load of pots.

We can complain about the tribes and the commercial fisheries and quotas but if the recreational crabbers violate the most basic rules the complaints don't carry much weight. When we launched at 5:30 AM someone was crabbing off of the public pier at the ramp. He was gone at 9:00, enforcement has been checking there often.

+1

I heard this complaint often from the Commission.

Recreational crabbers have absolutely no ground to stand on if they can't clean up their own house first.

While that is an obvious truism just because WDFW LEOs are recovering pots does not mean all those pots were being intentionally fished illegally.

If you believe the NW Straits' assertion that 10,000 pots are "lost" annually and look at the tidal exchange this past week-end and Monday (14 foot swings) I am absolutely sure that a lot of those pots were "lost" either having been relocated by the strong currents or not recoverable and effectively abandoned due to insufficient scope only to be found at lower tides during WDFW sweeps.

And, yes, there is the 30% of endorsements each year being sold to folks new to crabbing and the ongoing need for reminders to read the regs.

Poachers are poachers, violators are violators, regardless if tribal or non tribal and both should be prosecuted and punished "concurrently" accordingly with evidence gathered.

It has been two years since Joe Hatch Co-director of the Tulalip Fish and Wildlife division resigned after being arrested facing criminal charges for allegedly trafficking in crab and shrimp.

The Tulalip Tribes have charged both Joe Hatch Sr. and Jr. with 13 counts of fishing in closed waters.
http://www.heraldnet.com/news/former-tulalip-tribes-fisheries-co-director-accused-of-poaching/

In May 2015, the two allegedly were observed repeatedly harvesting crab after hours and out of season.

Snohomish County is not planning to review the case for possible criminal charges. Prosecutors here have been in touch with the state Attorney General’s Office about the case.

“We intend to relinquish our right to act as the prosecuting authority to the AG’s office,” chief criminal deputy prosecutor Joan Cavagnaro said.

Any updates from Tribal and/or State law system stemming from the investigation over two years ago?

So Snohomish County has handed off to the State which is likely to defer to the Tribal courts meaning the rest of the citizens of the State will have no right to view or be informed of the resulting tribal actions.

So, when is the Federal Government going to exercise its powers under the Lacey Act? Here is link: https://www.fws.gov/international/laws-treaties-agreements/us-conservation-laws/lacey-act.html.

The USFWS summary reads:

Under the Lacey Act, it is unlawful to import, export, sell, acquire, or purchase fish, wildlife or plants that are taken, possessed, transported, or sold: 1) in violation of U.S. or Indian law, or 2) in interstate or foreign commerce involving any fish, wildlife, or plants taken possessed or sold in violation of State or foreign law.

The law covers all fish and wildlife and their parts or products, plants protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and those protected by State law. Commercial guiding and outfitting are considered to be a sale under the provisions of the Act.

In 2008, the Lacey Act was amended to include a wider variety of prohibited plants and plant products, including products made from illegally logged woods, for import.

When the Lacey Act was passed in 1900, it became the first federal law protecting wildlife. It enforces civil and criminal penalties for the illegal trade of animals and plants. Today it regulates the import of any species protected by international or domestic law and prevents the spread of invasive, or non-native, species.


Certainly seems that this egregious example of commercial poaching warrants the attention of the Federal government.

I haven't seen a legal crab there while wade fishing there for at least the last five years, let alone very few small crabs. The place is a dead zone as far as I'm concerned.

Very few crabs in the eel grass in MA 9. What is there are females and sub legal males. I've only found one legal crab so far this year.
SF

Finally got back to the beach and crabbed Saturday. Not too much competition and after soaking four pots for five hours we came up with two keepers and maybe a dozen throwbacks of which most were females. This was in the southern part of MA 8-2; way too early for such poor crabbing.

So, what is the real story? Was the agreed upon total allowable harvest far too high (and based upon inaccurate stock assessments)? Maybe the fact that one or more tribes with U&A there extended their season because their crabbers hadn't caught their 50% (or the anticipated poundage within the original days of crabbing)? If so, that the first to the table weren't fairing well should have been a tipoff.

Bottom line, the P.S. endorsement generates somewhere around $1MM to $1.5MM per year and that should be enough to fund good annual assessments prior to negotiations with the tribes.

Or just let us start crabbing when the first tribal pot hits the water....... at least in MA 4 through 9 where more than sufficient poundage has remained out of the State's share after the summer rec season to allow for significant NT commercial harvest (since implementation of the new crab policy).

Or keep puget sound open year round for the recs and let the commercials stay in the ocean

That is a bit too broad brush given that in some MAs where there is no NT commercial harvest the recs have met or exceeded the State's share in past years. However, MA 8-1, 8-2 and 9 could certainly have an extended rec summer season opening with the first tribal pot in the water in the summer and running through September and then see how much is left of the State's share for a winter season which could theoretically extend into Feb or March.