Hood Canal Shrimp Poacher Sentenced in Jefferson County
Earlier this month, Judge Mindy Walker in Jefferson County District Court sentenced Curtis Scott Grout, to 30-days of electronic home monitoring after being convicted of possessing a large overlimit of spot shrimp unlawfully harvested from Hood Canal. The case began on May 17, 2024, during a recreational shrimp opener.
Shrimp seasons on Hood Canal are highly regulated with just a handful of days open annually usually with four-hour openers, with a daily limit of 80 shrimp per person.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) Police Officers were patrolling aboard marked and unmarked vessels that day. Officers aboard an undercover vessel observed three men in a small boat pull a pot containing a large amount of shrimp and dump the shrimp into the boat without appearing to count any of the shrimp. The vessel then immediately zoomed towards shore. The undercover officers alerted nearby uniformed WDFW officers, requesting that they stop the small boat for a compliance check.
Upon seeing the patrol vessel stop the suspected boat, the undercover officers observed a recreational vessel that was shrimping nearby begin to cheer. Officers later talked to the occupants of the cheering boat and found out that they had witnessed the same three men pull pots loaded with shrimp earlier in the day and then quickly rush for shore, which they thought was suspicious.
These witnesses were right to be suspicious… as the marked patrol vessel attempted to contact the suspect vessel as it motored towards shore, officers observed Grout tossing whole shrimp one at a time overboard. The suspects vessel finally stopped approximately 100 yards from shore. Officers instructed Grout to stop throwing shrimp overboard, and that they would be performing a compliance inspection. Officers observed a large basket containing well over the men’s three daily limits of shrimp.
Officer Messbarger counted 680 shrimp within this basket, well over the men’s combined daily 240 shrimp. Officer Messbarger at trial testified that you cannot control how many shrimp that you get in a pot while it is in the water, but it is what you do with them once they are on the boat that matters. Shrimp harvesters are legally required to have a separate container for each harvester’s limit, and any shrimp caught that are over a person’s limit must be immediately returned to the water.
Grout was charged with possession of twice the daily limit of shellfish in violation of RCW 77.15.370. Grout’s jury trial took two-days in Jefferson County District Court. The jury returned with a guilty verdict.
On March 10, Grout appeared for sentencing. The state argued Grout formerly had a commercial license, had been subject to multiple license violations, had pending felony charges for trafficking in wildlife, and therefore he knew the shrimping rules and intentionally broke them. The Honorable Judge Walker sentenced Grout to 30-days of electronic home monitoring. WDFW Police would like to thank the witnesses in this case who noticed the suspicious behavior, and the Jefferson County Prosecutor’s office for their hard work on this case.
“Spot shrimp are a delicacy highly sought after by recreational and commercial fishermen. State and tribal fishery managers work hard to study these populations and set harvest parameters,” said WDFW Lieutenant Kit Rosenberger. “By following shrimp seasons and limits anglers can ensure that shrimp will continue to thrive in our state’s waters for the future.”
Refer to Jefferson County’s press release for more information.
