Tacoma seafood wholesaler pleads guilty in sea-urchin records case. Here’s what we know
Tacoma wholesale fish dealer Westlake Seafood has been fined $15,000 in court after its owner pleaded guilty to failing to submit records used by fishery managers to set sustainable harvest limits.
The business was fined for second-degree unlawful shellfish catch accounting, a gross misdemeanor. The Washington State Attorney General’s Office originally accused Westlake Seafood of multiple felony counts for failing to submit fish-receiving tickets for thousands of dollars worth of sea urchin and Dungeness crab. The charges carried a maximum fine of $500,000.
Westlake Seafood was penalized April 5 in Pierce County Superior Court for one instance of a failure to submit a fish-receiving ticket for a purchase of 1,262 pounds of green sea urchin. According to court records, the business bought the seafood from a fisherman for $3,344.30 on Jan. 30 last year, and it failed to submit the ticket by Feb. 7.
The punishment was part of a 24-month suspended sentence. Court records show it included a suspended fine of $235,000 that the business won’t have to pay unless it similarly violates the law during that time and a judge orders it to pay the full amount.
All wholesale fish dealers are required to report their purchases and sales to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife or a tribe by submitting fish-receiving tickets, which identify the people who harvested the product, the buyer and the species, weight and price of the product. Assistant attorney general Kelsey Force wrote in charging papers that the sustainable management of the state’s fisheries depends on the complete, accurate and timely submission of the records.
An attorney for Westlake Seafood, Chuang-Yi Phillip Su, told The News Tribune it was unusual for a “white-collar crime” case such as this to be resolved so quickly. He said he thought investigators found it clear that the business owner, Dalong Jiang, was trying to do the right thing in completing his tickets.
“I think he feels he’s very fortunate that, you know, he was given this opportunity to do things right,” Su said.
Asked about the Attorney General’s Office originally charging Westlake Seafood with felony crimes for the reporting issues, Su said he thought it showed that the office was serious about environmental protection. He said the business has since revamped its purchase and reporting system.
“Westlake Seafood is a company that does in good faith operate within the confines of the law,” Su said.
The fish-receiving ticket that the business was penalized for not submitting was allegedly one of four tickets that investigators found ripped up in a trash can behind Jiang’s second-floor office. According to charging documents, WDFW officers went to inspect the company’s warehouse at 2615 E. N St. near Tacoma’s Dome District in March 2023.
The ripped-up tickets were taped back together by an officer, records state. In an interview with investigators, Jiang allegedly said he thought he’d sent the ripped up fish-receiving tickets to WDFW, and he claimed he became confused about how to report them after getting “different information” from the fish and wildlife agency.
Westlake Seafood was formed in 2017, and its website states that it exports 90 percent of its live products to China and sells the rest in local and domestic markets.
This story was originally published April 9, 2024 at 11:20 AM.
