“This is a first for me,” Bash says. “I've been doing this job for over 21 years, and we're on the water pretty much 365 days a year. Our fishery goes year-round. This is the first human remains that have been found that I know of.”

Jeff Horn, interim chief of police of the Bainbridge Island Police Department, says in his five years on staff, WA DNR has never reported human remains to his department before.

“We don't know anything really — we're hoping to find some more out today,” he says. “We don't find skulls every day.”

Sam Swanson, a longtime diver who has served as a representative on the Harvest Divers Union of the Pacific and is a colleague of Salter’s, confirms the rarity of the find.

“I’ve been diving here since 1991, and [I’ve heard of] nothing like that,” Swanson says.

The skull’s age and identity are questions that might not be answered for some time, if ever.

“It was obvious to me, I’m not an anthropologist ... but it's assumed that the skull is very old,” Bash says.

At the medical examiner’s office, a forensic anthropologist will examine it for any identifiable features and determine whether any DNA can be extracted, says Wallis, the Kitsap County coroner.

“I'm not very optimistic on [DNA extraction] just because of how long it's been in the water,” he says. It’s likely been underwater for “at least a couple of years,” he added.

“There is a certain difficulty [that comes with underwater remains identification], and that's where the forensic anthropologist comes in,” Wallis says. “They will actually consult with a marine biologist to help give us a better time frame on it.”

According to a report in February, Washington state has the fourth-most missing persons per capita in the nation, with 643 missing persons at the time of the report.

Regardless of the skull’s origin, it remains an object of curiosity for the geoduck-harvesting community.

“I was a volunteer firefighter and have seen all kinds of things, and it didn't really bother me; I don't think any of the crew had any emotional stress or anything from it,” Bash says. “But society has gone morbid a little bit. A couple harvesters said, ‘Could we see it or take pictures of it?’ And we said, ‘Hey, let's respect the dead.’”

The Bainbridge Island Police Department and WA DNR conducted dives in the area Thursday to see if there were more remains. Horn says they didn't find anything, and don't have plans to do any more dives at this point.

“And I’m thinking, if I know what’s down there, it’s not so bad, you know, you deal with it, but coming out of the darkness and being surprised by it was quite shocking,” Salter says. “I spend a lot of time outside in the woods and whatnot, hiking and fishing, and there's got to be all kinds of stuff out there and I've never thought about it.”

This article was updated at 6:44 p.m. on July 25, 2019, to include quotes from Michael Salter, the diver who discovered the skull; and to include an additional photo courtesy of WA DNR. It was updated again at 10:21 a.m. on July 26, 2019, to reflect new information regarding the Bainbridge Island Police Department's Thursday dives at the harvest tract.