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#286348 - 12/29/04 02:14 PM Skagit bust
salmonbelly Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 03/12/01
Posts: 359
Loc: Kirkland, Wa USA
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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#286349 - 12/29/04 03:42 PM Re: Skagit bust
eddie Offline
Carcass

Registered: 03/08/99
Posts: 2432
Loc: Valencia, Negros Oriental, Phi...
Happy New Year Mr. Kingma!!!!!!
_________________________
"You're not a g*dda*n looney Martini, you're a fisherman"

R.P. McMurphy - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

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#286350 - 12/29/04 03:57 PM Re: Skagit bust
Kyle_A Offline
Spawner

Registered: 12/03/00
Posts: 771
$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?

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#286351 - 12/29/04 04:35 PM Re: Skagit bust
lupo Offline
Three Time Spawner

Registered: 09/16/02
Posts: 1571
Loc: seattle wa
they must have checked his freezer or something cuz even for multiple rods, 18 coho and 7 chinook is a damn good day plunking.
_________________________
"time is but the stream I go a-fishing in"- Henry David Thoreau

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#286352 - 12/29/04 04:45 PM Re: Skagit bust
Homer2handed Offline
Repeat Spawner

Registered: 02/06/04
Posts: 1395
Loc: DEADWOOD
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!
_________________________
Brian

[img]http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:VeLkiG2PPCrjzM:www.bunncapitol.com/cookbook[/img]

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#286354 - 12/29/04 05:28 PM Re: Skagit bust
Theking Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 10/10/03
Posts: 4908
Loc: The right side of the line
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.
_________________________
Liberalism is a mental illness!

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#286355 - 12/29/04 05:43 PM Re: Skagit bust
stlhd_dreaming Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 04/07/04
Posts: 401
Loc: maine
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.
_________________________
Just remember that people are giving there lives over seas when you start bickering about a photo of a fish out of water !!!!!!

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#286356 - 12/29/04 07:03 PM Re: Skagit bust
seastrike Offline
Hey Man....It's cool...

Registered: 08/18/02
Posts: 4323
Loc: seattle
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.

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#286358 - 12/29/04 08:04 PM Re: Skagit bust
Titanium Cranium Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 09/30/02
Posts: 424
Loc: Sequim
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.
_________________________
Mark Strand
aka - TC

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#286359 - 12/29/04 09:07 PM Re: Skagit bust
Gary Johnson Offline
Juvenille at Sea

Registered: 07/08/04
Posts: 206
Loc: Fall City, WA
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!

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#286360 - 12/29/04 09:31 PM Re: Skagit bust
Somethingsmellsf Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 12/15/02
Posts: 4022
Loc: Ahhhhh, damn dog!
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....
_________________________
NRA Life member

The idea of a middle class life is slowly drifting away as each and every day we realize that our nation is becoming more of a corporatacracy.

I think name-calling is the right way to handle this one/Dan S

We're here from the WDFW and we're here to help--Uhh Ohh!




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#286361 - 12/29/04 11:32 PM Re: Skagit bust
salmonbelly Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 03/12/01
Posts: 359
Loc: Kirkland, Wa USA
Read the release through. Federal charges are yet to be filed. That'll be the major whack, just like the other guy.

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#286362 - 12/30/04 12:58 AM Re: Skagit bust
eyeFISH Offline
Ornamental Rice Bowl

Registered: 11/24/03
Posts: 12766
SalmonBelly has it right... y'all ain't seen nothin' yet!
_________________________
"Let every angler who loves to fish think what it would mean to him to find the fish were gone." (Zane Grey)

"If you don't kill them, they will spawn." (Carcassman)


The Keen Eye MD
Long Live the Kings!

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#286363 - 12/30/04 01:40 AM Re: Skagit bust
Mr.Twister Offline
Spawner

Registered: 10/15/03
Posts: 711
Loc: Olympia
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....! \:D
_________________________
"I'm old and tough, dirty and rough" -Barnacle Bill the sailor

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#286364 - 12/30/04 02:17 AM Re: Skagit bust
OPfisher Offline
The Golden Boy

Registered: 12/12/04
Posts: 1506
Loc: wa/ak
It boggles the mind to think of how sick some people are. I hope he get nailed with the next round of charges!
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watch out for the "Untra Lof Jags"

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#286365 - 12/30/04 02:59 AM Re: Skagit bust
BERKLEY BOY75 Offline
Spawner

Registered: 01/17/02
Posts: 679
Loc: AUBURN
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..

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#286366 - 12/30/04 11:10 AM Re: Skagit bust
Robert Allen3 Offline
Spawner

Registered: 04/23/00
Posts: 762
Loc: vancouver WA USA
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.

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#286367 - 12/30/04 12:00 PM Re: Skagit bust
greatone28 Offline
Alevin

Registered: 12/15/04
Posts: 14
Loc: bellingham
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.

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#286368 - 12/30/04 01:29 PM Re: Skagit bust
skydriftin Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 01/26/02
Posts: 306
Loc: everett,wa
notice there were no hatchery brats in his illgotten booty. lol

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#286369 - 12/30/04 08:30 PM Re: Skagit bust
Smalma Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 11/25/01
Posts: 2844
Loc: Marysville
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

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#286370 - 12/30/04 09:18 PM Re: Skagit bust
Somethingsmellsf Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 12/15/02
Posts: 4022
Loc: Ahhhhh, damn dog!
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!
_________________________
NRA Life member

The idea of a middle class life is slowly drifting away as each and every day we realize that our nation is becoming more of a corporatacracy.

I think name-calling is the right way to handle this one/Dan S

We're here from the WDFW and we're here to help--Uhh Ohh!




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#286371 - 12/30/04 11:19 PM Re: Skagit bust
w. coyote Offline
Returning Adult

Registered: 07/17/03
Posts: 372
Loc: Everett Wa.
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.
_________________________
25 years experience fishing the Puget Sound. 5 years of it catching fish.

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#286372 - 12/30/04 11:19 PM Re: Skagit bust
BERKLEY BOY75 Offline
Spawner

Registered: 01/17/02
Posts: 679
Loc: AUBURN
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

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#286373 - 12/31/04 12:43 AM Re: Skagit bust
Achewter Offline


Registered: 02/02/04
Posts: 2276
Loc: N of Seattle
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.
_________________________
When Ma Nature decides to make ya her bitch, aint nothin your gonna do about it

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#286374 - 12/31/04 12:59 AM Re: Skagit bust
JDavis Offline
Smolt

Registered: 10/09/04
Posts: 96
Loc: Des Moines WA
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....)

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#286375 - 12/31/04 02:54 AM Re: Skagit bust
cupo Offline
Repeat Spawner

Registered: 06/18/03
Posts: 1060
Loc: north sound
Quote:
Originally posted by Achewter:
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?
Few if any tribal members have 100% native blood anymore so I guess they'll be leaving too.

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#286376 - 12/31/04 03:25 AM Re: Skagit bust
Steelheadman Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 03/15/99
Posts: 4214
Loc: Poulsbo, WA,USA
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?
_________________________
I'd Rather Be Fishing for Summer Steelhead!

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#286377 - 12/31/04 09:33 AM Re: Skagit bust
Somethingsmellsf Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 12/15/02
Posts: 4022
Loc: Ahhhhh, damn dog!
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.
_________________________
NRA Life member

The idea of a middle class life is slowly drifting away as each and every day we realize that our nation is becoming more of a corporatacracy.

I think name-calling is the right way to handle this one/Dan S

We're here from the WDFW and we're here to help--Uhh Ohh!




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#286378 - 01/01/05 06:36 PM Re: Skagit bust
bushbear Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 08/26/02
Posts: 4709
Loc: Sequim
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.

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#286379 - 01/01/05 06:39 PM Re: Skagit bust
bushbear Offline
River Nutrients

Registered: 08/26/02
Posts: 4709
Loc: Sequim
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.

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