Four arrested for concealing undersized crab in Tokeland

Published 1:30 am Monday, June 29, 2026

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Officer Garrison was observing shellfish harvesters on the Tokeland tidelands this past weekend.

Officer Garrison observed a male place a live crab into the hood of a jacket that was being worn by a female. The male made sure to hide the crab by adjusting her large sunhat. Shortly after this, the crab hiding duo was joined by another couple.

As they crested the parking area Officer Garrison asked them if they had any crab and they said no. Officer Garrison observed crab legs protruding from one the female’s hood. He also noticed that their clothing seemed to droop, showed bulges and they walked carefully.

Once at the parking area the foursome submitted five crabs for inspection, Officer Garrison asked a total of six times if they had any more crab and they said no each time. Officer Garrison lifted the sunhat and exposed a crab. He began pointing out bulges and drooping clothing on the two women. They started to remove crab from their clothes. They had been hiding crab in purposely built sewn in pouches in their clothes.

They continued to only hand over one or two crab at a time until more were pointed out by Garrison. Even when Officer Garrison thought they had removed all the crab, he patted them down and found more. Between the two, they had concealed 21 Dungeness crab on their bodies with 19 being undersized and one being a female crab. Three purposely-built crab hiding bandoleers and one puffer jacket with pouches were seized for evidence. All four individuals were cited criminally for failing to submit catch for inspection and undersized crab.