An Oregon man is facing charges for allegedly illegally catching and "wrestling" protected bluntnose sixgill and broadnose sevengill sharks in Puget Sound.The Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife recently shared body camera footage of an officer confronting Connor Seifert, 27, in June in Pierce County, Washington."You know your shark rules," the officer could be heard on the video telling Seifert."You can’t fully or partially remove sixgill from the water. SHARK SIGHTINGS SPIKE NEAR AMERICA'S BEACHES AS JULY 4 CROWDS HEAD TO SHORE FOR WEEKENDA still of a video shared by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife that the suspect allegedly posted of a shark being held by its tail.
(WDFW)"When you wrestle a sixgill to shore like that, you hop on its back, you expose its gills to the air," the officer continued."You know as well as anybody else does that Puget Sound is a nursery for these sharks.
There has been a direct correlation between catching these sharks in this stage in their lives and the mortality of the pups inside the moms."He added, "Once they exhaust themselves being fought to shore, then all of their babies die.And then, sooner than you know it, you’re not going to have sixgill and sevengill returning to Puget Sound anymore."This came after months of following Seifert’s movements and his online posts, with officers finally setting up surveillance so they could catch him making an illegal catch.A still the suspect allegedly posted on social media of him sitting on a shark's back and holding its mouth open.
(WDFW)SUSPECT IN VIRAL MONK SEAL HARASSMENT VIDEO SAYS HE WAS DOXXED AS FEDERAL COURT FIGHT BEGINSHe has been charged in Pierce County with nine counts of unlawful recreational fishing in the second degree and one count of making a false or misleading statement to a public servant.The first is a misdemeanor and the second is a gross misdemeanor.Misdemeanors carry up to a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail if found guilty and gros...