The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) recently busted multiple people for attempting to smuggle Dungeness crabs out of the Tokeland tidelands utilizing custom jackets with hidden compartments.
The names and ages of the aforementioned people have not yet been released to the public, and local news station King5 said the incident took place 16 June 2026.
According to a WDFW Facebook post, a WDFW officer was originally stationed on the Tokeland tidelands to observe shellfish harvesters and ensure no harvester was exceeding the maximum harvest. While there, he observed a male “place a live crab into the hood of a jacket that was being worn by a female,” and then further adjusting the female’s sunhat to hide the jacket hood. An additional man and woman joined the two on the beach before heading back to the tidelands parking area, where the officer said he observed crab legs protruding from the woman’s jacket hood and misshapen articles of clothing, indicating there was something inside.
After questioning, the foursome “submitted five crabs for inspection,” and the officer subsequently pressed the group six additional times to ask for any remaining Dungeness crabs to be turned over. The foursome denied having any more than five crabs but ultimately removed 21 concealed Dungeness crabs from sewn in pouches on their clothes. 19 of the heisted crabs were undersize, and one was female – both of which are illegal to take.
“Three purposely built crab hiding bandoliers and one puffer jacket with pouches were seized for evidence,” WDFW wrote on Facebook. “All four individuals were cited criminally for failing to submit catch for inspection and undersized crab.”
In January 2025, WDFW officers caught a group illegally harvesting Dungeness crabs from the Puget Sound in Washington, discovering 62 heisted crabs, 57 of which were undersized and one female. In 2024, the remainder of Dungeness crab fishing season was delayed or cancelled due to low meat yields not meeting the state’s minimum meat recovery criteria. In November 2025, officials in Oregon, U.S.A. delayed the start of crab season by two weeks for the same reason after tests in Long Beach, Washington, again showed lower meat recovery levels.
