Scappoose Bay Sturgeon Poachers Sentenced

It took awhile, but a Lower Columbia sturgeon poacher was sentenced to jail, fined and had his fishing license suspended for three years for attempting to retain an oversize fish, among other violations.

Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division troopers report that when Julio Duran of Salem pled guilty this past December, he was immediately taken into custody to serve 20 days, ordered to pay the Department of Fish and Wildlife $5,000 in restitution and contribute another $500 to the statewide anti-poaching fund, and put on probation for 36 months.

The case made local news in March 2022 when fish and wildlife troopers received a tip that some fishermen had illegally retained a sturgeon on Scappoose Bay, where the fish had gathered in some numbers. Setting up surveillance, the troopers watched as three people in a boat pulled up a rope holding a sturgeon, and then they moved in.

Upon contact, troopers discovered none of the trio had fishing licenses and they were using barbed hooks, which aren’t allowed for sturgeon. After initially denying they had any fish, a consent search yielded five sturgeon hidden on three ropes, including a 7-plus-footer.

There was no sturgeon retention fishery open there at the time – nor will there be in 2024 for a second straight year due to a cratering population and declining keeper numbers – but in past seasons below Bonneville, the maximum size has been 50 inches fork length.

ODFW reported that all five of the sturgeon were able to be released alive. The “living fossils” generate an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 angler trips a year on the Lower Columbia and Willamette, providing a linkage to the slow-growing fish threatened by Steller sea lion predation while fueling economic activity.

Illegally possessing an oversize fish is a class C felony in Oregon. Duran pled guilty to that, unlawful take of the other four sturgeon and not having a fishing license. The barbed hooks charge was dismissed.

As for the other two defendants, Jose Plascencia of Dayton previously pled guilty to not having a license and was sentenced to 10 days on the Columbia County work crew or 80 hours of community service, while Axel Guell of St. Helens received two years probation and a $500 fine payable to ODFW. Both of their licenses were also suspended three years.

The wheels of justice can turn slow, but they do turn.