Oregon State Police have charged a commercial fisherman from Hebo with cheating on his catch of Dungeness crab after a state biologist noticed that much of the catch he was unloading Dec. 6 was undersized.
Richard F. Brown, 56, was cited by OSP game troopers for taking and possessing undersized crab during the unloading of his boat, the F/V Calamari, at Pacific Seafood in Warrenton.
State police said an Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife biologist was sampling commercial caught Dungeness crab when she noticed a large quantity of undersized crab in Brown’s 46,000-pound load.
OSP wildlife troopers, with the help of 14 members of the U.S. Coast Guard, came to the fish plant and started measuring the crab. They sampled 11,778 pounds of crab and found that 2,682 pounds – more than 22 percent — were undersized, police said. The value for the crab at the time of landing was $4.75 a pound, police said, which would make the estimated value of undersized crab in the delivery to worth more than $49,000.
In addition to not being allowed to retain female crab, the commercial size for the taking of male Dungeness crab in Oregon is 6¼ inches. The prohibition on the taking of female and undersized male crabs is a key strategy to maintain the sustainability of the Dungeness crab fishery, state police said in a news release.
“The sustainability of the Dungeness crab fishery is a point of pride and management success in Oregon,” said ODFW marine resources program manager Caren Braby. “Intentional or neglectful harvest of small crabs is damaging to Oregon’s sustainability brand, takes future crab from legal harvesters, and leads to irresponsible wastage of crab.”
In addition to being charged criminally, Brown can be assessed restitution for the damages associated with the taking of the undersized crab, which can be up to twice the average market value.
