A Ketchikan man is being charged with a series of misdemeanor and felony charges related to illegal fishing and theft of Dungeness crab pots. 47-year-old David Vest was arrested on Friday and his fishing boat, the F/V Silver Surfer, was seized by Alaska Wildlife Troopers.
Troopers said they received numerous complaints from another commercial crabber that he suspected Vest and his crew were stealing his Dungeness crab pots and his catch. So a trooper camped out near Etolin Island, between Wrangell and Ketchikan, and waited for the Silver Surfer to show up.
The trooper reported that he witnessed Vest and his crewman, Craig Newman, haul up another fisherman’s pot, cut the buoy line, discard it in the ocean, and attach his own line to the stolen pot. Then the Silver Surfer allegedly continued to fish up to five hours after the closure.
The summer season for commercial Dungeness crab fishermen in that area ended around midnight on Thursday. According to the trooper’s report, Vest and the Silver Surfer continued to fish until around 2am. He then returned a couple hours later and continued to haul up pots – both his own and the other fisherman’s.
On the way back to Ketchikan, the Silver Surfer was apprehended by the U.S. Coast Guard and escorted to Air Marine Harbor to be searched. While underway, the Troopers said the Coast Guard captured Vest on video throwing a trash can full of Dungies overboard.
Vest was charged in a Sitka court on Friday with two felony counts of 2nd degree theft for taking another man’s crab pots – troopers estimate a worth of up to $1800 total – and for evidence tampering, stemming from when he threw his catch overboard. That’s in addition to two misdemeanor counts of crabbing during the closed season and interfering with another fisherman’s gear. Vest is being held on bail and a hearing is set for Monday, August 26.
