PORT ANGELES — A Clallam County man will serve jail time after pleading guilty to illegally fishing for endangered salmon in a closed section of the Dungeness River on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.
Gregory Gallauher was sentenced in January to 90 days in jail, with 75 days suspended, leaving 15 days to serve. He pleaded guilty to second-degree unlawful recreational fishing. A related trespassing charge was not pursued.
The case began in September 2022, when a landowner reported suspected poaching along the river. At the time, the Dungeness River was closed to all fishing to protect spawning chinook salmon, which are listed as endangered.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers set up a live-feed trail camera and conducted surveillance nearby. After dark, the camera captured two men wearing headlamps walking along the riverbank. Officers observed Gallauher repeatedly casting and retrieving his line in an area known to hold chinook salmon. He was the only one fishing.
Authorities say chinook returns in the Dungeness River dropped to just a few dozen adults in the 1990s, and recovery efforts are ongoing. State officials, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and nonprofit groups have invested heavily in habitat restoration in recent years.