PORT TOWNSEND — Shellfish poaching is more than just stealing or not following the rules, a business audience was told Monday.
It is a health hazard that can damage the reputation of the food industry, said Mike Cenci, deputy chief of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“The illicit shellfish market doesn’t only have consequences for conservation,” Cenci told about 60 people at the weekly meeting of the Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce.
“It erodes the potential of legitimate seafood businesses and can jeopardize public safety if the poacher involves shellfish taken from a sewer outfall.”
Those who eat bad shellfish will be less focused on who harvested it and where it came from and more focused on how eating shellfish made them sick, Cenci said.
“The reputation of the industry is compromised,” he said.
Poached product is attractive to purchasers because it is less expensive than from legitimate sources and “people want a good deal,” Cenci said.
He said poachers may be using shellfish to fuel illegal drug habits.
“Black market prices are directly linked to what it takes to sustain a drug habit,” he said.
“It’s a quick source of revenue. A poacher can get anything from $200 to $800 for what they gather during a two-hour tide.”
While restaurants with good reputations often make considerable effort to keep their shellfish stock legitimate, they can be unaware of the source if the poacher masks it well enough, Cenci said.
“Restaurants try to develop partnerships with people who have been in business a long time rather than a fly-by-night crew that shows up in an alley with a pickup truck full of shellfish,” Cenci said.
“But if someone want to launder product through a reputable restaurant, they could.”
Enforcement suffers from a lack of personnel.
Cenci said the entire state has only 123 officers. The Port Townsend office is staffed with three officers and has three vacancies.
Cenci said the public can help by reporting observed violations and by lobbying the state Legislature and “getting them to act as if this were something important.”
The fund for enforcement is $15 million a year and has not changed in some time.
“I have enough to sustain a minimum contingent of officers, which is 20 percent less than what I had in 1993,” he said.
“We don’t have a lot of staff,” he added.
“We tend to prioritize and focus a lot of our effort on the most egregious offences.”
Many that buy poached seafood aren’t in the seafood business, he said.
“Many of these professions have no connection with seafood,” he said.
“If you throw a good deal in the mix, people aren’t thinking about the consequences to conservation and public health or the effect on legitimate business.
“So we have some education to do.”
Consumer awareness is on the rise, he said, and the agency is receiving more tips about suspicious behavior and people trying to market poached shellfish.
Sometimes what appears to be poaching is often innocent, he said.
Anyone observing what they perceive to be illegal shellfish poaching should immediately call the State Patrol or 9-1-1 emergency dispatchers, Cenci said.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
