3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2018
Charges filed against Ilwaco charter skippers
Accusations of
‘high-grading’
for halibut
By NATALIE ST. JOHN
Chinook Observer
ILWACO, Wash. — Sev-
eral local charter skippers
and crewmen could soon be
reeling in hefty fines and jail
sentences.
Following a nine-month
Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife investiga-
tion, the state in early April
filed 37 criminal charges
against six men affiliated
with Pacific Salmon Char-
ters: David Gudgell, 57, of
Seaview; Robert Gudgell, 56,
of Longview; Thomas Mer-
riman, 61, of Sammamish;
Brian Cables, 59, of Ilwaco;
Patrick Gore, 28, of Deer
Island; and Richard Mercado,
52, of Tacoma.
Investigators say the men
systematically urged cus-
tomers on recreational hal-
ibut-fishing trips to exceed
limits and allegedly wasted
large numbers of fish during
the 2017 season.
A woman who answered
the company’s phone hung up
when asked for comment.
“This was unique. I hav-
en’t in my 18 years here been
a part of a case like this,” Sgt.
Dan Chadwick of the Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife said
Tuesday.
Fish and Wildlife enforce-
ment officers opened an
investigation last June, after
customers contacted the
state about allegedly unethi-
cal activities they witnessed
during their May halibut-fish-
ing trip. The whistleblow-
ers suspected the crew of
“high-grading” — the ille-
gal practice of intentionally
catching too many fish, keep-
ing the best ones, and discard-
ing or releasing the rest.
In June, an undercover
officer booked a fishing trip.
After he claimed to have seen
high-grading activity on board
the Pacific Dream, investiga-
tors sought a warrant. In July,
state and federal game war-
dens searched the company’s
Port of Ilwaco office and took
STRANDED
Chinook Observer
David Gudgell is one of several men charged with illegally
‘high-grading’ halibut.
a variety of records.
Owner Milt Gudgell has
operated Pacific Salmon
Charters for about 20 years,
according to state records.
The company has a fleet of
seven boats. Some are pri-
vately owned by people who
book trips through Gudgell,
but two boats, the West Wind
and the Katie Marie, are oper-
ated by his sons, David and
Robert Gudgell.
Every year, the members
Small cities’ building
permit programs
face uncertainty
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
John Weldon/NOAA Fisheries
A male gray whale was found stranded at Leadbetter Point
on the Long Beach Peninsula after getting tangled in lines
from a crab trap. A research team from Portland State Uni-
versity and Cascadia Research Collective concluded that
ropes from the trap likely caused the young whale’s death.
Oregon jobless rate
stuck at 4.1 percent
Associated Press
PORTLAND — Ore-
gon’s low unemployment rate
refuses to budge.
The state Employment
Department said Tuesday the
jobless rate for March was 4.1
percent — the same as in Feb-
ruary, January and Decem-
ber. It was also 4.1 percent in
March 2017.
Oregon’s nonfarm pay-
roll employment increased by
4,200 jobs last month, follow-
ing a revised gain of 700 jobs
in February.
Manufacturing rebounded
in March after a lacklus-
ter February, and state econ-
omists say the retail indus-
try has been hiring at a strong
clip after a tepid holiday-hir-
ing season. Motor vehicles
and parts dealers have been
adding a lot of workers in
the retail sector, and food and
beverage outlets have also
been hiring.
Another
unemployment
measure, known as U-6, was at
8.3 percent in March, slightly
below the 8.6 percent recorded
in March 2017. The figure
includes discouraged workers
who stopped looking and part-
time workers who want but
can’t get full-time jobs.
of the International Pacific
Halibut Commission recom-
mend quotas intended to pre-
vent halibut from being over-
fished. When each region on
the West Coast and Canada
meets its quota, its season
ends. For 2017, the commis-
sion recommended a Wash-
ington state sport-fishing limit
of 237,762 pounds. The sea-
son lasted just nine days.
Fishermen must also abide
by a “You get what you get,
SALEM — Amid a state-
wide housing shortage, the
building permit programs
of 25 small municipalities
could be in jeopardy follow-
ing a recent state Depart-
ment of Justice opinion that
using private-sector consul-
tants to oversee plan reviews
and building inspections may
violate state law.
The opinion included in
a February memorandum
could result in new restric-
tions on small jurisdictions
and require them to have
building officials on staff,
city officials said.
Small counties and cit-
ies, such as the rural city of
Aurora, with a population
less than 1,000, don’t have
the resources to hire a build-
ing official. Instead, those
local governments rely on
third-party contractors to
provide building review ser-
vices for them.
“This is going to raise
costs in a huge way because
we can’t cover these costs
with our current funding,”
said Aurora Mayor Bill
Graupp. “It will raise costs
in housing especially in rural
Oregon. Low-cost, low-in-
come housing is hit the worst,
which is what we are trying
to work on in rural Oregon,
and this is a huge spike in the
heart for us.”
Greg Hinkelman, city
manager of Clatskanie, said
he would like lawmakers
to pass legislation next year
that allows cities to use third-
party contractors to review
and inspect plans. “The thing
that worries me about the
DOJ opinion is that it might
be turned into rules and an
edict that we have to have
a building codes official on
staff,” Hinkelman said. “For
small cities, this is devastat-
ing. If the state of Oregon is
forcing small jurisdictions to
hire people for things where
we typically contract ser-
vices out, where does this
end? Does it mean I can’t use
a contract employee as city
attorney or a city planner?
Does it have to be staff?
“We’ve got a system that
works and now someone
saying ‘let’s fix what works
and it doesn’t have to be this
way,’” he added.
King City in Washing-
ton County has a popu-
lation of about 3,000 and
relies entirely on contrac-
tors to administer its building
program.
“A full-time or even a
part-time building official
is an unnecessary six-figure
expense or nearly a fifth of
our budget,” Mike Weston,
the city manager, wrote in a
letter to lawmakers.
Relying entirely on third
parties to conduct a city’s
building program violates
several state laws, according
to the memo by Katherine
Lozano, assistant attorney
general in the Department of
Justice’s Business Activities
Section.
Car Show!
and you don’t throw a fit,”
policy. There is a one-fish-
per-person-per day limit. A
person who is unhappy with
the size of their fish can throw
it back immediately and try
again, but keeping more than
one fish as “insurance” and
picking the best one later is a
definite no-no.
As a result, some fisher-
men inevitably end up with
little to show for their time
and money at the end of a day
of fishing.
Using the seized records,
investigators tracked down
crew members and around
100 customers who went
on halibut trips with Pacific
Salmon last year. They spent
months interviewing and
seeking written statements
from the former passengers.
Some refused to talk, said
they couldn’t remember any-
thing or denied seeing any
illegal activity. One man who
had been fishing with the
company for 10 years told
officers, “I think you’re going
on a witch hunt.” Chadwick
said the officer who did most
of the interviewing quickly
noticed that long-time cus-
tomers seemed to have more
memory problems than recent
one-time customers.
At least 30 people did go
on the record, saying, among
other things, that staff told
them to catch multiple hal-
ibut, stored the extra catch
in a box with no circulating
water, sorted catches by size,
swapped identifying tags to
more favorable fish, dumped
smaller fish — many dead —
overboard, and lied to regula-
tors about their catches after
returning to port. Other cus-
tomers who were not named
in the court documents
reportedly corroborated their
accounts.
Based on customer esti-
mates, the company allegedly
facilitated the illegal catch
of 83 to 104 halibut over the
course of nine days. Assum-
ing an average weight range
for the fish, Pacific Salmon
was allegedly responsible for
exceeding the Columbia River
Area quota of 12,799 pounds
by somewhere between 9 and
24 percent, according to court
documents.
Consult a
PROFESSIONAL
am turning 65 this
Q: I year
and have not
Steve Putman
Medicare Products
503-440-1076
Licensed in Oregon
and Washington
putmanagency@gmail.com
been taking Social
Security Benefits
to this point. Will
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A: In your case the answer is
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care Parts A and B.
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Surfrider Foundation seeks
volunteers for Earth Day Action Day
The Daily Astorian
Bring some work clothes,
some friends and a surfboard
to participate in the Oswald
West Beach Cleanup event
from 10 a.m. to noon on
Sunday.
The Surfrider Foundation,
along with the Friends of Cape
Falcon Marine Reserve and
Oregon State Parks, is looking
for volunteers to help clean
the beach and participate in
minor restoration projects as a
part of their Earth Day Action
Day activities.
Volunteers will be treated
to a bonfire and barbecue on
the beach, as well as time to
surf. For more information,
contact the Friends of Cape
Falcon Marine Reserve at
capefalconmr@gmail.com.
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Q: Does Medicare
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18th Annual Car Show
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