Halibut at the Port of Ilwaco.

LONG BEACH, Wash. — Charter boat operators Robert and David Gudgell were convicted Thursday of 18 alleged fishing violations.

The brothers work for Pacific Salmon Charters, an Ilwaco charter company owned by their parents.

“Natural resources like fisheries are the lifeblood of our community, and we could not allow the defendants to continue a practice that endangered them,” Prosecutor Mark McClain said in a statement.

McClain said the Gudgells turned down a plea offer that would have involved “a relatively brief jail sentence, prohibition from fishing halibut and significant financial responsibility,” choosing to take their chances on a trial instead.

Robert Gudgell, 57, was found guilty of eight counts of second-degree unlawful recreational fishing, a misdemeanor. David Gudgell, 58, was found guilty of nine counts of second-degree unlawful recreational fishing. He was also found guilty of one count of waste of fish and wildlife, a gross misdemeanor.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife opened an investigation in spring 2017, after customers on a halibut fishing trip claimed they saw the boat crew catch more than the limit, store extra fish in a “livewell,” then cherry-pick the largest fish at the end of the day. They also alleged the crew dumped the unwanted fish, some of which were dead, overboard.

A fishing party can catch one halibut for each licensed person on the boat. If a passenger doesn’t like the first fish they catch, they can immediately release it and try for a bigger fish. However, catching more than the legal limit is strictly forbidden, and so is holding fish as “insurance” and releasing them if better fish are caught.

Department of Fish and Wildlife Officer Todd Dielman interviewed and sought written statements from dozens of people who took fishing trips aboard Robert Gudgell’s boat, the Katie Marie, and David Gudgell’s boat, the West Wind, in 2017. The charges were based on those statements and on documents gathered during a search of the Pacific Salmon Charters office.

At the trial, the Gudgells often highlighted the challenges of running a fishing business and their complicated relationships with the animals that provide their living.

When Robert Gudgell was called, defense attorney Nathan Needham produced a large matted illustration of a halibut, asking, “What’s that fish mean to you?”

“My future in halibut fishing. It’s an income source for me. It’s getting to be less and less,” Robert Gudgell said. “You have to be able to fish for all the fisheries, all the time.”

Robert Gudgell said he came up with the novel idea of putting the livewell — a gel-coated fiberglass holding tank — on his boat because there were times when deckhands couldn’t immediately deal with fish that came on board, for example, in very rough waters or when more than one customer brought in a fish at the same time.

He said he believed it kept the animals healthier and happier, and was safer for passengers than leaving fish lying on the deck. Gudgell strongly denied throwing dead fish overboard.

“I’m a conservationist,” Robert Gudgell said. “I don’t kill stuff just to kill. I don’t do it.”

Robert Gudgell said his personal definition of “high-grading” merely meant making sure customers get the largest fish, and crewmembers take home the smaller fish. He said it was common practice on charter boats.

David Gudgell described his frustrations with the state’s management of the halibut fishery, saying the rules for commercial fishing of halibut are so rigid that they sometimes cause fish to die unnecessarily.

“It’s one (fishery) that I don’t think the state of Washington necessarily cares much about,” David Gudgell said. He also talked about the pressure to please his customers, who paid around $215 per person for the privilege of catching one halibut.

“Customers need to go home with the biggest fish,” David Gudgell said.

He said he couldn’t see what his deckhands were doing while he was at the wheel, but he denied doing anything illegal — or telling his deckhands to do anything illegal — to keep his customers happy.

“The buck stops here,” David Gudgell said.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.