Something wrong is going on in Wisconsin.
One of the state’s top Marine biologists, known locally as a “sturgeon surgeon”, was arrested last week for illegally selling caviar under the guise of a state research plan Gaya, which accepts at least $ 20,000 a year from a fish processor. According to reports.
Three-year investigation, by undercover DNR staff, top sturgeon expert at Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources, Ryan P. The arrest culminated in Koinigs, who oversees the state’s annual sturgeon surgeon season.
The species is officially Listed as threatening By the American Fisheries Society, its jet-black roe was particularly sought after – over $ 100 per ounce – According to the New York Times.
In the wild, anglers are allowed to keep whatever caviar they find, but are forbidden to sell it.
The criminal complaint reads, “Caviar is highly sought after in legal and illegal markets, and significant efforts have been put into these types of investigations worldwide.”
The Times reported that three other people were arrested as a result of the investigation, none of them being state employees.
Court documents blame Many high-level Wisconsin wildlife officials also benefited from the plan, feeding on sturgeon caviar at regular meetings and taking home thousands of dollars worth of dollars.
“Originally we distributed among ourselves and had a good old time with it,” DNR Fisheries Supervisor Kendall Kamke told a game warden according to an affidavit Quoted by The Washington Post.
Koenigs and his co-conspirators were charged with misdemeanor theft, while Koenigs also faces additional charges of obstructing investigations by a conservation warden.
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