CLALLAM COUNTY – Three harvesters of sea cucumbers pleaded guilty this week in Clallam County Superior Court to Unlawful Catch Counting and trafficking in stolen sea cucumbers.
Douglas Monk, Carl Sheats and Derek Edlund have all been ordered 240 hours of community service and a combined restitution of $11,000 in a case investigated by the federal government.
Additionally, the owner of a seafood company in Fife pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act, admitting that between 2014 and 2016 he conspired with others to underreport the amount of sea cucumbers purchased for processing by approximately 250,000 pounds.
According to records filed in the case, Hoon Namkoong purchased sea cucumbers from fishers throughout the Puget Sound region. Each fisherman is allotted 2500 pounds of sea cucumber per week. They would frequently over fish that number, report only the 2500 pounds, but get paid the full amount in cash. This went on for several years.
Namkoong sold them to wholesalers in the U.S. and in Asia, for a gain of nearly $1.5 million.