2 arrested in massive poaching of oysters and clams on Hood Canal

They huddled in the bushes after dark, peering through the grass to spy on shellfish gatherers.

A dozen times over seven months, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers camped at night on the shores of Hood Canal, keeping tabs on men they suspected of poaching hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of oysters.

One night the wind and waves were so rough, the oyster harvesters flipped over their homemade barge, spilling 450 bags of fresh shellfish into the drink. Another night, cops watched the workers bag their crop then suddenly snap off their headlamps as a helicopter flew past.

"They clearly didn't want anyone seeing what they were doing," said Wildlife Detective Paul Buerger.

Thursday, a months-long investigation into the alleged illegal harvest of oysters and clams culminated in the arrest of two Jefferson County men and the search of a Quilcene Bay shellfish company, G&R Quality Seafood.

Donald Owens, 43, is accused of stealing oysters and clams from public tidelands and private beaches. Also arrested was Rodney Clark, 45, the owner of G&R, on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a gun.

The two are expected to be arraigned on the charges on Friday.

Authorities searching Clark's home office for records Thursday morning found firearms in the house. Clark served time in prison in the 1990s in Montana for manufacturing methamphetamine.

The investigation began last year with tips from citizens and the state Department of Health, which suggested that harvesters working on G&R's behalf appeared to be sneaking around and gathering shellfish from beaches where they held no rights.

It's not uncommon for Hood Canal shellfish companies to lease 40 or 50 stretches of tideland from which they collect seafood. But authorities alleged that Owens and several other harvesters took oysters and clams from state parks and from beaches owned by other people.

"Conservatively, we're talking about at least 300,000 oysters and 1,000 pounds of hard-shell clams," Buerger said. "It could be a lot more."

Hood Canal oysters retail in grocery stores for at least $8 a dozen and can sell for $1 or more apiece in area restaurants. Buerger said all of the shellfish was supplied to G&R, which typically resells its catch at a half-dozen or more Western Washington farmer's markets from Lake Forest Park to Issaquah, and to wholesalers as far away as Brooklyn, N.Y.

G&R's Web site says Clark formed the company in 2006, with a rowboat, a wheelbarrow and 15 acres of tide lands. A woman who answered the company's telephone Thursday wouldn't identify herself but said, "This is just a very confusing situation for us. I really have no idea why all of this has come down."

Health officials took note of G&R last summer after an inspector found loads of oysters that lacked tags describing where they'd been harvested, said Frank Cox, with the Health Department's shellfish program. That documentation is how health officials make certain shellfish aren't contaminated by pollution or deadly toxic algae.

"If it's not tagged we have no idea where it came from," Cox said. He worries that companies that don't bother with proper paperwork may gather from an area "prohibited because it's dangerous."

Wildlife agents conducted surveillance, collected records and secretly videotaped harvests. Buerger learned the number of oysters gathered by harvesters exceeded the amount that could have been produced where they worked.

Fish and Wildlife Deputy Chief Mike Cenci said officers made sure none of the shellfish were collected from toxic areas.

Nearly one-third of the state's uniformed wildlife cops and several Jefferson County sheriff's deputies served search warrants and interviewed witnesses in northern Hood Canal on Thursday. The state seized two barges, five firearms, a boat and a van, and 300 pounds of clams and 100 pounds of oysters.

While millions of oysters are gathered and sold from Puget Sound each year, Linda Lentz, a shellfish seller with Chelsea Farms, whistled at the volume of poaching that wildlife agents were alleging: "That's my whole year's production last year," she said

Adam James, a competitor with the much larger Hama Hama Oyster Co., said he fears others in the shellfish industry cut corners.

"A lot of people are flying under the radar, running around like cowboys paying cash for everything," he said.

The investigation is ongoing and additional arrests are expected, Cenci said.

Craig Welch: 206-464-2093 or cwelch@seattletimes.com