NEWS RELEASE

WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND WILDLIFE
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, Washington 98501-1091
Internet Address: http://wdfw.wa.gov



Dec. 29, 2004

Contacts:

Sgt. Russ Mullins (WDFW), (360) 201-0638;

Or: Brian Gorman (NMFS), (206) 526-6613



Skagit chinook poacher pays state fines, could face federal ESA penalties
OLYMPIA - Enforcement officers with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) have cited a Mount Vernon man for multiple fishing violations, including possessing wild chinook salmon, which are protected from harvest under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).



Melvin R. Kingma, 65, was cited Oct. 13 for illegal take and possession of seven wild chinook from the lower Skagit River. Kingma was observed fishing with multiple fishing poles, which is against state regulations.



In addition to the seven chinook, Kingma was also in possession of 18 coho salmon. He was cited for possessing more fish than the personal limit allowed. Kingma paid a total of $600 in state fines.



Kingma could also face federal penalties because the chinook salmon he possessed are listed as a threatened species under the ESA. Chinook have been off-limits to anglers in the Skagit since 1999.



A similar poaching incident occurred in 2001 when a Mount Vernon man was caught with a 40-pound chinook taken from the Skagit River. The man was fined $5,000 for violating the ESA, and his 16-foot custom-built fishing boat was seized.



The investigation into Kingma's activities was conducted by enforcement officers from WDFW and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement (NOAA OLE), and is an example of the ongoing joint enforcement efforts to protect fish species with federal ESA protection.



"Recreational anglers, commercial fishers and others have all made painful sacrifices over the years to reverse the downward spiral of weak salmon stocks, and Mr. Kingma's actions demonstrate a total disregard for those sacrifices," said WDFW Enforcement Chief Bruce Bjork. "Our ongoing partnership with NOAA OLE will help us protect fish and wildlife resources."



The ESA was passed by Congress in 1973 and is administered by NOAA OLE and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The act is designed to save species and their habitats when other efforts have failed. NOAA OLE is responsible for species that spend most of their lives in marine waters, including marine fish, salmon and most marine mammals.



Vicki Nomura, special agent in charge for the northwest region of NOAA Fisheries OLE, said the agency has appropriated more than $885,000 to WDFW for joint enforcement patrols over the next two years to protect and conserve marine resources.



"We will continue working with and through our state enforcement counterparts to prosecute serious actions taken by individuals and organizations that violate wildlife laws such as the Endangered Species Act," Nomura said.



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Happy New Year Mr. Kingma!!!!!!

$600.00 ......What a joke. If I was minded to poach, I'd look at that as a slap on the wrist for posession of that many fish. How about $600.00 per fish?

they must have checked his freezer or something cuz even for multiple rods, 18 coho and 7 chinook is a damn good day plunking.

I agree that $600 is a JOKE, just wait there should be more coming out about this.

Now this is just the tip of the ice-berg; there are a lot more guys/gals doing this on the Skagit!

In these days of chronically short revenues for the state, I doubt if any state lawmaker would look a gift horse in the mouth, and balk at a source of revenue. I would contact my representative, and suggest an increase in the fine amounts. With the backing of a sports fishing group, I would think it would be an easy sell to the legislature. raising the fines to 1, 000,00 per fish, would probably be a slam dunk. Besides sending a message to poachers, it would also show the legitimate sportsmen's concerns that fish and game laws be enforced, something we can all agree on.......I think. It would make for some good PR, and raise the level of awareness amongst non sporting types.

KK

Could you buy 18 wild coho and 7 wild chinook for $600 at QFC? using Avg weight of 10lbs for the coho and 15 for the nooks thats about $2 per lb.

You know what the worst part of the whole matter is if you dont have a yellow WDFW sticker on your car it is a 100 dollar fine and it is a 100 fine for fishing after dark that doesnt say much does it. I hope the guy gets fried.

I would disagree with 1k per fish....Maybe something like $500 per fish and something less for minors.
I do agree that this guy deserves to screw the pooch since he took so many and $600 is way low.

Ok, 500.00 it is then, with maybe an additional fine for over 2 illegal fish, or a repeat offender. All fish and game fine monies go the county in which the infraction occured, if I understood the gamies on the Bogy a week or so ago. So county governments would probably support a change in the fine structure also.

KK

You know there are times when you legitimately screw up and $500 seems somewhat steep. I'd say $250 a fish for the first four fish. That covers more tha just slap on the hands to the guy that read the regs wrong and blew it. Still a fine but not a life altering event. Then if you have more than 4 fish go to $1000 a fish, loss of personal vehicle, vessel, and remove all fishing/hunting rights in the state for a periond of 7 years. Second infraction, $1000 a fish for all fish retained loss of all properties minus the house and permenant loss of hunting/fishing. Radio tagged for five years. That seems reasonable to me.

The interesting thing about this is that the state law says they can charge him up to $4000 per ESA listed fish. So why only $600? That is simply a slap on the wrist!

Let me get this straight, the guy in 2001 keeps one fish and gets a $5000 dollar fine and his boat taken away, and this low life scum-bag bunches of fish and lots of rods and gets a fine of $600. If I was the first guy I would take the state to court for favoritism. The in-equalities of this state simply amaze me....

Read the release through. Federal charges are yet to be filed. That'll be the major whack, just like the other guy.

SalmonBelly has it right... y'all ain't seen nothin' yet!

Hang em' high!!!!! The first thing I would have done was to get search warrant for the guy's freezer....You know that he was no casual poacher...

You seldom see that type excess outside of a tribal fishery....!

It boggles the mind to think of how sick some people are. I hope he get nailed with the next round of charges!

like i said in the other post, the tribes do this and its ok, im not saying what he did was right, but there isnt equality when it comes to sport fishers and tribal fishers who break the law..

As far as I am concerned the guy who did this is a scumbag along with the worst criminals in the system. I don't care how upstanding he is or isn't in the rest of his life. People who aren't scumbags don't harvest threatened or endangered species.
Here is what should happen to this guy..

Everything he used in this crime should be taken from him.. His fishing gear, his vehicle and everything in his vehicle or on his person.
If the fish was taken to his home then his home should be taken. He should never agian be allowed to fish or hunt in the state of Washington. and the fine should be 50,000 dollars per offence...

don't care what affect this has on him or his family. he lost all right to complain about such things when he dicided to become a criminal scumbag who doesn't deserve any consideration.

come on guys yes it is bad that this guy did this and he should be punished severely, but how many of those esa kings get killed by gill nets? I would like to see a press release from the wdfw everytime the swinomish accidently catch some of them in there nets? what a joke.

notice there were no hatchery brats in his illgotten booty. lol

Berkley Boy/Greatone-
I see a huge difference between any incidental tribal caught chinook and what this poacher did. This charcter clearly was out to intentionally rape the resource with little apparent concern about the resource.

The Skagit tribes have not targeted chinook in any of their commercial fisheries in years. Yes they do catch chinook incidentally in some of their fisheries (the pink fishery is particularly bad) however if you wish to end the take of incidental Skagit chinook in fisheries you need to expand your area of concerns.

By far the largest take of Skagit chinook occurs in BC waters (both trollers and sport fisheries). Anyone who supports those fisheries are supporting a larger take than what the tribes kill. The fact is the wild Skagit chinook are incidentally killed in every marine recreational salmon fishery in the State - should we close them all?

Tight lines
S malma

I understand that federal charges are pending, but the state should have SLAPPED this guy HARD! Then the next time one of the tribal members wants to shoot elk/deer right at the feeding station, or think that they alone can fish for endangered fish out of season/limits and equipment guidelines then we would have a baseline to judge how that was handled!

Smalma
I don't think we can blame Canada too much for catching U.S, fish. Look at the absolute rape that Alaska comercial fishing does to Canadian and U.S. fish stocks. I feel for Canada.

smalma, i do understand that alot of the esa listed chinook are caught by trollers and i bet alot more are caught in their ocean migration by russian and korean high sea's fishers..but what i mentioned was, that there is no equality between a white fisherman who breaks the law and a native american who does the very same thing..the white man will allways recieve a more severe punishment

Here we are again slamming the pore Tribes. Don’t you think it’s time we just all go back to wherever we are from or our grandparents are from or their grandparents are from? I’ve never been to Norway but I guess there is some fishing there. You Germans go back to Germany, Irish back to your Island; Mexicans head South, Africans sorry about the slave thing but you need to leave too. Orientals you guys grab a few boats and troll home but be careful to release all unmarked salmon on your way. I am sure it will be a happy homecoming for all and just think how happy everyone will be to see us. Just think how happy everyone would be then. The rest of the world wouldn’t have to worry about big brother USA butting into their business any more. Oh be sure to tell your respective countries when you get there not to come here and try to take this semi productive land for themselves unless they are prepared to take it fare and square with a fight to the death with it’s rightful owners or at least bring better Lawyers than we did. This treaty crap is so ridicules for this day and age it makes me Ill. Someone messed up. An equal share means an equal share. Every Native American should be entitled to the same share of salmon, crab, dear, elk, mushroom or berry I am. If they want to fish for a living let them have some or most or even all of the new commercial licenses that are issued when tribal fishing like slavery becomes an embarrassing part of US history. I can’t think of anything as damaging to a race than what’s happened to Native Americans. Reservations, special rights and money for nothing it just doesn’t work in this society. It is a shame what they had is lost but it is lost and it can’t come back end of story tuff $h!#. It’s time to clean up the mess and move on. Ok maybe I am just jealous maybe all us whiners are just jealous or maybe there just shouldn’t be anything to be jealous about……Hum

As for the Skagit poacher it has nothing to do with the tribes and it is weak on my part to pick this thread to vent. He should be nailed to the wall for what he’s done. If he had 25 fish in the boat while fishing by himself with rods and reels I doubt it was his first time out. I have never had a day close to that on a WA river. If he has the money to pay high fines then take it and do some good with it. At least as much as it cost to find, catch, convict and punish him. If he hasn’t got the bucks outhouse scrapping for life.

first two @ $250 a pop, after that just double the fine for each fish....we could fix social security and bail out Are-nold in Calif with all the $ he would owe...

I hope the feds crack down on him...if TSA is involved he will go free as long as he is not packing a corkscrew...

I say set him free if he changes his vote to Rossi... (sorry, the eve single malt is kicking in....)

Few if any tribal members have 100% native blood anymore so I guess they'll be leaving too.

Where did the Native Americans come from? The theory is that they came across a land bridge from Asia. Maybe they can go back to Kamachatka if all the rest of of us need to go back to the old world. Where do they go if they are half breeds?

My post was about equality,every one should be treated equally.No speacial rules,seasons,limits,etc.etc.
This guy is not a novice at this and should have the book thrown at him, but you can see that myself and others here feel like the red-headed step child, here in our own country. No where did anyone advocate throwing out another group, lets just all play with the same rule book and on a level playing field.

The fines may not be appropriate and the WA fine schedule is strange. Trophy animals or listed fish or other wildlife species should carry some enhanced fine structures. Coloraod charges $2000 to $100000 and or a year in jail for the take of T&E species along with 20 points against the individuals license privileges (20 points gets a hearing to show cause why license privileges should not be suspended). I'd sure like to see a point system added to the wildlife statutes that would allow WDFW to suspend license privileges for a period of time and in some cases for life for those individuals who, like Kingma get caught with a major violation or others who keep getting popped for smaller violations. WA is tied in with the Wildlife Violators Compact and folks in member states who are suspended are prohibitied from participating in wildlife related activities in all the member states (I think there are 18 states in the WVC). The suspension is often harder on the person than the fine.

p.s. I think that at least half, if not all of the fines, should go back into a WDFW LE fund so that the poachers can help pay for the cost of the equipment needed to keep officers effective in the field. If a county officer was to write a ticket, then his/her agency should get the fine money. I don't think WDFW LE efforts should be putting money into county accounts.