337 illegal crab traps pulled from Boundary Bay in 5 day operation

A record 337illegalcommercial crab traps have been seized in Boundary Bayin a five day joint venture between the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Canadian Coast Guard, potentially saving thousands of crabs from being sold on the black market.

The operation on Jan. 20, 21, 25 and Feb. 1 and 2, used, for the first time, the CCGhovercraft Moytel, which helped enforcement crews pull inmore than double the 136 illegal traps netted in a three day operation last winter.

Fisheries officers are now investigating the seized gear to try to identify perpetrators and say charges may follow.

Boundary Bay straddles the Canada-U.S.border, but on the B.C. side, the commercial crab fishery closed in November.

Art Demsky, field supervisor with DFO'sconservation and protection unit, said poachers set trapswithout the required identifiers orlocator floats,and then use GPScoordinates to find them later.

"Their intent is to hide these traps," he said. "We're pretty sure this catch gets laundered into the commercial marketplace."

According to Demsky,higher prices driven by demand for crab at Christmas and Chinese New Year is motivation for illegal crabbers.

He said they pose a major conservation concern by taking undersized crab or femalesthat haven't had a chance to reproduce.

"This is the time of year they start to spawn. We don't want harvests on smaller crab or female crab, and certainly not crab that are spawning or carrying eggs," said Demsky."That fishery is closed for a reason."

Because illegal traps have no floats, DFO crews use a grappling hook or "dragger" to locate and snag the "string" or groundline that connects the traps.

The gear was then pulled tothe surface using the large crane and winch on the Coast Guard hovercraft.

Demsky said they were surprised to pull up one monster string that was1.6 kilometres in length with21 traps attached. Everything caught in the traps was put back in the ocean.

A large quantity of ghost gear abandoned lines and traps that pose a threat to fish and invertebrates was also recovered.

According to DFO, in the past five years similar wintertime operations have yielded:

• 2017 219 traps seizedover three days.
• 2018 226 traps seized (approximately 18 strings) over three days.
• 2019 230 traps seized over three days.
• 2020 136traps seized (approximately 16 strings) over three days.
• 2021 337 traps seized (approximately 33strings)over fivedays.