Paddlefish Investigations Lead to Arrests

Approximately 85 Missouri Department of Conservation agents and 40 special agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as other wildlife officers from other states, contacted more than 100 suspects in Missouri and eight other states to issue citations, execute arrest warrants, and gather additional information regarding a paddlefish-poaching investigation. These were the result of illegal commercialization of Missouri paddlefish and their eggs for national and international caviar markets. The undercover investigation ran during the spring 2011 and spring 2012 paddlefish seasons (March 15 through April 30). It was based out of Warsaw, MO. Eight individuals were indicted for federal crimes involving the illegal trafficking of paddlefish and their eggs for use as caviar. Other states involved were Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. Paddlefish and their eggs may be commercially harvested only from the Mississippi River. In the past, paddlefish were naturally abundant in Missouri but their numbers declined because of channelization, damming, impoundments and other river modifications. This has greatly diminished the natural habitat paddlefish need to reproduce in the wild. Today, paddlefish in Missouri must be stocked. MDC stocks about 45,000 hatchery-produced paddlefish fingerlings each year in three locations: Table Rock Lake, Truman Lake, and Lake of the Ozarks.