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4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2017 Charter: Recreational fishermen are allowed to catch one halibut each Continued from Page 1A management issues. The com- pany offers guided trips for salmon, halibut, tuna, stur- geon and bottomfish, as well as burials at sea. Investigators seized passen- ger manifests and other docu- ments during the visit, Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife Capt. Dan Chadwick said in a phone interview. Chadwick declined to name the suspects, saying the case is still under investigation, and no one has been arrested or charged yet. A staff member hung up when a Chinook Observer reporter called the Pacific Salmon office. Regulated fishery The International Pacific Halibut Commission manages Pacific halibut stocks in the U.S. and Canada. The commis- sioners, who are appointed by the U.S. president and Cana- dian prime minister, gather once a year to review the health of fish populations, make catch recommendations and discuss regulatory proposals. State and provincial governments then use their recommendations to set local limits. In Washington state, the Department of Fish and Wildlife manages the rec- reational halibut fishery. Halibut is a quota-based fishery, meaning that the sea- son ends when the total catch reaches a predetermined limit. The quotas are based on fish Natalie St. John/EO Media Group National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Lt. Greg Bush and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Tony Leonetti reviewed records at Pacific Salmon Charters in the Port of Ilwaco on Thursday. The business is under investigation for alleged violations of the strict rules that govern the halibut fishery, according to a search warrant. population estimates and other data, and are intended to pre- vent overfishing. For 2017, the commission recommended setting the Washington state sportfishing limit for halibut at 237,762 pounds, according to the website. The regular recre- ational season opened in early May, and lasted for eight days this year. After assessing fish stocks, managers allowed one extra day of fishing on June 17. Under Washington state law, recreational fishermen are allowed to catch one hali- but each. “If you’re not happy with the size of the fish, you can release it right away and try for a bigger one,” Chadwick said. “But the minute you retain a fish, it’s yours.” Honest customers The quota system can only keep fish populations stable if fishermen are honest about what they catch, Chadwick said, so Fish and Wildlife took note when a Pacific Salmon customer alleged in May that the crew on his fishing trip had blatantly violated the rules. According to a Fish and Wildlife report filed with the warrant in South District Court, a group of four men from Idaho took a trip on the Westwind in mid-May. In a written state- ment, one of the men said he and his friends started to put away their gear after catching their fish, and were surprised when the captain and deckhand urged them to “keep fishing” and “get bigger fish.” Another man said crew members told him they would store all of the fish in a “live well” until the end, and then decide which ones to keep. At the end of the trip, he said, one of the crew lined the fish up on the deck and sorted them by size. “None of them appeared to be alive,” he wrote. “Then I saw the crew start throwing some of the fish over the side, sev- eral of which had their throats cut.” A third man said the deck- hand told him to remember his tag number, and urged him to “Keep fishing for a bigger one,” even though he already had a fish in the live well. “I don’t recall anybody being told to stop fishing through- out the rest of the day, no mat- ter how many they caught,” he wrote. He said he didn’t realize they were high-grading until he watched the crew transfer tags from small fish to large fish. He alleged that seven halibut “floated away, belly up,” after the crew tossed them over the side. After the trip, the men dis- cussed what they had seen, and decided to contact the Depart- ment of Fish and Wildlife. Undercover angler When fisheries manag- ers decided to open the season for one more day on June 17, Fish and Wildlife police saw an opportunity and took it. They booked a halibut fishing trip for a plainclothes officer on the Pacific Dream. During a briefing at the start of the trip, the officer and other passengers listened as a skipper allegedly explained that if they caught “little chickens,” they would store them, rather than “gaffing,” or killing them, so that the customers could “size up” at the end of the day. In all, they caught 18 fish that day — four more than the legal limit, according to the officer’s report. The officer said he watched as a crew member held pairs of fish by the tails to compare their sizes, and then threw four small ones over- board. At least one was already dead, he said. Fishin’ mission Two other Fish and Wildlife officers met the boat in port. At first, crew members allegedly denied exceeding limits or throwing small fish back. The officers claimed they repeat- edly gave the suspects opportu- nities to come clean, but no one did, until they revealed that an undercover officer had posed as an angler as part of an ongoing investigation. At that point, two employ- ees allegedly acknowledged they had been high-grading, and one claimed he had been below-decks for most of the trip and hadn’t seen anything. The investigating offi- cer concluded that high-grad- ing appeared to be “standard practice for Pacific Salmon Charters.” Other customers During the search last week, officers seized customer man- ifests, receipts, fishing license books and other documents. Investigators are using that information to find and con- tact other customers, Chadwick said. Pacific Salmon staff could potentially be charged with two misdemeanors, second-degree unlawful recreational fishing, and wasting food fish or shell- fish. They could also be cited for violating state rules for fish- ing seasons and limits. In the report, the investigator said, if they are charged with lying to, or misleading officers, it might put their U.S. Coast Guard licenses at risk. Chadwick said high-grading and other forms of poaching have harmful consequences for people, as well as fish. When a charter company uses illegal or unethical practices to help their customers catch more and big- ger fish, it puts honest com- petitors at a disadvantage. Left unchecked, one company’s unethical practices can cre- ate an atmosphere where other companies also feel that they have to break the rules to stay in the game, Chadwick said. “We’re furthering our inves- tigation … to understand the extent of this practice over the last year,” Chadwick said. “Two boats from the same company doing the same thing — it’s an indication to us that we need to dig further.” Seaside: ‘This could have a major impact’ Continued from Page 1A Commissioners also pro- posed plans which would include “residential over com- mercial” units that could open up some downtown commer- cial buildings to condomini- ums and apartments. “That could have a major impact on workforce hous- ing,” Mayor Jay Barber said. “I’m open to looking at how we can help landlords bring buildings up to code.” Removing hurdles In a list intended to remove hurdles to providing addi- tional rental opportunities in residential zones, commis- sioners presented proposals to encourage long-term rental housing development, includ- ing plans to modify parking requirements and rules for accessory dwelling units. “Right now we’re required to provide two spots per dwelling unit,” Carpenter said. “But two spots is pro- hibitive if you want to have workforce housing with smaller units. If developers are able to reduce the num- ber of parking spots, they can build more.” Recent state legislation provides new rules for multi- family accessory units in sin- gle-family zones, Planning Director Kevin Cupples said, which could add to the city’s rental stock. Staff has not had time to do an extensive review of the bill, Cupples said, although it may be necessary for the city to begin working on amend- ments relating to accessory dwelling units. A reduction in system development charges — the costs charged to builders for city services like roads and sewers — was also considered as a way to invite developers to provide more affordable or workforce units. The fees could be reduced in exchange for more rental units. — as a response to the long- term rental shortage. “I see these as two sep- arate issues: vacation rent- als and workforce hous- ing,” Planning Commissioner Chris Hoth said. “I don’t think we’re going to accom- plish anything if we put them together.” Cupples said the city has 398 vacation rentals, about 8.5 percent of the city’s 4,665 housing units. The number is up from 368 units in 2016, and 348 in 2010. Barber said he had not Wikimedia Commons Seaside City Hall W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 Consult a P ROFESSIONAL Q: Do you have much is my old Q: How computer worth? is a description of leg A: Sciatica pain, and not a diagnosis. It can to ebay.com and enter A: Go your computer model Lingering Sciatica? 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