Sturgeon poachers

[stevej]

I would be happy to pitch in a few bucks for a trip halfway back to a Soviet-bloc country for these folks. Dump em into the ocean on the way home as far as I am concerned.
Does not sound like much of a "message" was sent to the tribal members involved to me.

3 ARRESTED FOR ILLEGAL CAVIAR OPERATION ... WEDNESDAY, NOON
By BRYAN DENSON
The Oregonian

Oregon State Police arrested three people this morning accused of running an illegal caviar-manufacturing operation that allegedly made criminal bedfellows of Eastern European immigrants and Columbia River sturgeon poachers.

The arrests marked the end of a two-year investigation involving more than a dozen suspects in Oregon, California and Washington.

A team of state police troopers swept into the home of a Woodburn couple Ivan Usoltseff, 72, and Mariya Usoltseff, 58 and arrested them shortly after 8 a.m. today as another team took 57-year-old Aleksandr Grigoryan of Milwaukie into custody in Southeast Portland.

The three, all immigrants from former Soviet-bloc countries, were indicted on felony racketeering charges as well as lesser charges of unlawfully possessing and selling white sturgeon, said Sgt. Jeff Samuels, who heads the special investigations unit of the state police Fish and Wildlife Division.

The Usoltseffs are accused of illegally buying sturgeon from tribal fishers and turning the roe into caviar. The trade was brokered by Grigoryan, who is a limousine driver in the Portland metropolitan area, Samuels said.

“We want to send a message that this won't be tolerated,” Samuels said. “We want to protect the (sturgeon) for future generations.” Another suspect, 38-year-old David Chechelnitsky of Portland, was jailed earlier this month and charged with racketeering for his alleged involvement in the case, authorities said.

Two tribal members from The Dalles sisters Georgia Gowdy, 36, and Melanie Gowdy, 41 were cited Friday for misdemeanors that accused them of possessing and selling oversize white sturgeon to the Usoltseffs, Samuels said. State police expect to charge at least one other person involved in the case with misdemeanor wildlife crimes.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents and Oregon State Police troopers went undercover to infiltrate the alleged poaching and caviar operation after getting a tip about Grigoryan's sales of the delicacy. Grigoryan is a self-employed town-car driver who owns Prime Car Services, based in Milwaukie.

The fall of the Soviet Union more than a decade ago triggered overfishing of the world’s most abundant sturgeon habitat, including the Caspian Sea, which produces world-famous beluga caviar. So poachers have sometimes turned to the Columbia and Sacramento rivers to feed a global demand for the delicacy.

Black market caviar in the region goes for about $100 a pound, authorities say.

The investigation found that sturgeon were being taken illegally from the Columbia River and the Sacramento River in California, Samuels said. The meat of the fish and the roe were sold unlawfully to individuals including undercover detectives in Woodburn and the Portland area.

Laws forbid the harvesting of oversize white sturgeon from the Columbia River.

Female sturgeon typically begin to carry roe after reaching 6 feet in length. Oregon law generally forbids fishermen from keeping the fish once they reach 5 feet. Treaty rights allow Native American fishermen to take white sturgeon up to 5 feet in length from the Columbia.

It takes about a quarter-century for a typical female to reach roe-bearing size.

“These big fish are (illegally) taken out of the river and not able to spawn, thus affecting our stocks,” Samuels said.

The prehistoric-looking fish can be expected to live more than 130 years and will grow more than 15 feet long if left to thrive in the Columbia River. But the species has declined by about 4 percent a year since the early 1990s, resulting in reduced catch limits by sport and commercial fishermen.

State police staked out the Usoltseff home in 2003, documenting the delivery of oversize sturgeon by tribal anglers to their home in a residential section of Woodburn.

Police raided the home on May 9, 2003, seizing 400 jars of red caviar, 15 jars of black caviar, scales and other evidence. They also recovered more than a dozen white sturgeon caught illegally on the Columbia River, Samuels said.

stevej

[B~C]

##**ROTTEN#%%$MOTHER!!^^%%*SORRY*@@(#**& I say feed the &&$$# to the sturgeon

[starcrafttom]

I own a lot of chain and a boat an have no problem with problem with useing either. .

[D5800877351]

Hey, did you get the news from i-fish? Just wondering, they had just put this exact topic on the board...

[starcrafttom]

a lot of us are on i-fish and other fish sites too.

[Catman]

Man, I agree with B~C. And that goes for a lot more critters that self-aggrandizing, greedy humans exploit.

[stevej]

Got the news off of oregonlive.com don't hit the ifish site much except for the salty dogs page.

Wonder what the total kill was and how a few years in jail can make up the difference. A few thousand hours of public service helping to maintain hatcheries, public docks and such would be a nice start. Or send em back to the mother land.

stevej

[Wheeler Dealer]

I vote option #3 above.

Jon