A boater is in a bit of a mess after he caused thousands of pounds of live "slime eels" to die, according to a lawsuit from the Oregon company that planned to sell the hagfish to Asia consumers.

Darin Rodabaugh is accused of negligence in a lawsuit from AA Seafood of Depoe Bay. The lawsuit claims Rodabaugh, from Kennewick, Washington, was pulling his boat out of the water at the Port of Depoe Bay on Sept. 10, 2016, and didn't lower the antenna or mast.

The protruding part then hit an overhead power line as he pulled away from the boat launch. The jolt of electricity caused his boat to catch fire, according to the lawsuit.

But more importantly to AA Seafood, it knocked out the power to the warehouse where the company stored 16,400 pounds of live hagfish. The fish are kept in tanks with water that constantly circulates to stay fresh and at the right temperature.

The vast majority died in the six hours the power was out, according to the lawsuit.

Hagfish are a delicacy in Asia -- mostly South Korea -- where they sell for about 80 to 95 cents a pound. They can be exported frozen but are more valuable alive.

The Oregon coast is ripe with hagfish, which have a skull but no jaw or spine and look similar to lamprey -- another eel-like creature that is not actually an eel. Oregon hagfishers plumb the depths of the coast at 300 to 900 feet. The Pacific hagfish, the most common type in the Northwest, is about 18 inches long, but can grow as long as 2 feet.

Oregon has shipped about 1.5 to 2 million pounds of hagfish over the past seven or eight years. Most are brought to Newport and Coos Bay before being shipped.

This quiet industry went largely unnoticed until 2017 when a truck from AA Seafood carrying 7,500 pounds of live hagfish lost several containers along U.S. 101 near Cape Foulweather about 3 miles south of Depoe Bay.

This instantly brought nationwide attention because hagfish earned their "slime eel" nickname from what is thought to be a defense mechanism. They secrete a combination of mucus and seawater from their glands, creating a white slime that is tough to clean.

Firefighters used 6,000 gallons of water to hose the hagfish and slime off the road and into ditches. The Oregon Department of Transportation sent bulldozers to try to corral the slime and slithering hagfish.

AA Seafood was responsible for cleaning up the rest.

The company wants Rodabaugh to pay for the loss of the slime eels due to the power outage, the the cost of cleaning up after the dead fish and damages. AA Seafood is asking for up to $49,000.

Rodabaugh did not return a request for comment.

-- Molly Harbarger

mharbarger@oregonian.com

503-294-5923

@MollyHarbarger