Jefferson Search and Rescue (JSAR) is selling refurbished crab pots on Sunday, July 26 in a fundraising event that supports the program’s efforts to provide search and rescue services to Jefferson County. The sale takes place in the parking lot of Port Townsend Honda and Marine, located at 3059 W. Sims Way. The business, which is closed on Sundays, has donated the use of its location to JSAR.

"The fundraising effort has been among the most successful in JSAR’s history,” said Robert Foster, JSAR president, in a press release. The group held its first sale of crab pots in November, resulting in more than $900 in sales.

“We stretch our funding as best we can, and crab pot sales are helping us obtain up-to-date gear that, ultimately, makes us more effective when we go into the field.”

Funds raised are to be used to replace ropes, rigging equipment, communications radios, and other search and rescue gear.

The crab pots come from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, which donates them to local nonprofits after a first attempt to return them to their original owner. The donated crab pots are either unmarked, their owner cannot be located, or the owner has declined to take them back.

"They can be in pretty rough shape when we get them," said Dave Kaldahl, who has been leading JSAR’s efforts to refurbish and sell the pots, in a press release. “We rewire the cage, repaint buoys, refit them with escape cord and sort the usable items for sale."

Both commercial and recreational crab pots are available for sale, along with bait boxes, weighted rope and buoys. Some of the lighter, recreational pots are sold as kits suitable for use by a first-time or light-use crabbers.

For information about Jefferson Search and Rescue, visit jsar-wa.org.