A 27-year-old Oregon man now faces criminal charges after Washington wildlife officers accused him of repeatedly targeting protected sharks in Puget Sound, hauling them ashore, and filming himself wrestling the animals before posting the videos online. According to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), Connor Seifert allegedly targeted bluntnose sixgill sharks and broadnose sevengill sharks, two species that anglers cannot legally fish for in Washington’s marine waters. WDFW announced the case after a months-long investigation that officers said began when they received at least 14 complaints about Seifert’s activities. After receiving the complaints, investigators said they monitored Seifert’s fishing trips, reviewed videos from his social media accounts, and eventually contacted him after observing his conduct firsthand near the Fox Island fishing pier in Pierce County. Prosecutors allege he repeatedly removed protected sharks from the water, dragged them by their tails, and wrestled with them after landing them. Body camera footage released by WDFW shows an officer confronting Seifert during the investigation. In the video shared by the agency, the officer explains why the encounters can harm the shark population. Sixgills and sevengills return to Puget Sound to breed WDFW says those protections exist because sixgill and sevengill sharks use Puget Sound as an important nursery area. State regulations prohibit directed fishing for bluntnose sixgill sharks throughout Washington waters, and anglers who accidentally catch one must release it without removing it from the water. The agency also classifies the bluntnose sixgill as a Species of Greatest Conservation Need. “Once they exhaust themselves being fought to shore, then all of their babies die,”