Location: Chicago, IL | Don't know if anyone else saw this?
It was published in the Sawyer County Record (Hayward area)
Area bait farmers charged With importing bait without a permit
Published: Thursday, September 24, 2009 5:14 PM CDT
Four Wisconsin live bait businesses —including Hayward Bait and Tackle Inc. — have been charged by the U.S. attorney’s office with violating federal and state laws that prohibit the importation of live bait fish into the state without a valid import permit and a health certificate certifying that the fish are free from certain diseases.
Stephen P. Sinnott, acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, said Sept. 17 that the four Wisconsin businesses are charged with violating the Lacey Act, which makes it unlawful to import, receive and acquire in interstate or foreign commerce any fish transported in violation of any law or regulation of any state.
Wisconsin law prohibits the importation and transportation of live fish into the state for use as bait without a valid import permit and health certificate certifying that the fish being imported are free from certain diseases.
Besides Hayward Bait & Tackle, those charged are Gollon Brothers Wholesale Live Bait, Inc., of Stevens Point; Gollon Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Gollon Bait & Fish Farm, of Dodgeville; and Friesses Minnow Farm, Inc., of Cumberland.
In total, the companies are charged with importing more than $2.5 million worth of market-value minnows from Minnesota, Arkansas, South Dakota and North Dakota without valid permits or health certificates certifying that the minnows were free from disease.
The federal prosecutor charges that between Jan. 17, 2005, and continuing until Feb. 13, 2007, Hayward Bait and Tackle Inc. transported, received, acquired or purchased white suckers and fathead minnows with market value of $306,891 from a company in Minnesota without acquiring the necessary permits for the importation into Wisconsin.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Jarosz said wildlife investigators did not have evidence the businesses were responsible for importing Viral Hemmorhagic Septicemia (VHS) or other diseases into the Wisconsin fish population. But he said that is impossible to know, since the white suckers, shiners and fathead minnows they imported were never tested for disease, which should have happened under state law.
Jarosz said court hearings are scheduled for October, at which the businesses are expected to plead guilty and cooperate. He said the investigation is continuing and could lead to charges against other bait farmers.
Sinnott said the Wisconsin law prohibiting the importation and transportation of live bait fish into the state without a valid permit and health certificate was enacted, in part, to ensure the protection of the resources of Wisconsin, while allowing for the future growth of the fish farm industry.
If convicted of the charge, each business faces maximum penalties of a fine, which would be not more than the greatest of $500,000, twice the gross monetary gain derived from the offense, or twice the gross monetary loss to persons other than the defendant resulting from the offense. If convicted, each business also faces a three-year period of supervised release and a $400 special assessment.
Sinnott said the charges are the result of an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to protect the waterways in Wisconsin.
Sinnott said those efforts, and this investigation of the illegal importation of bait fish from outside the state will continue.
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | John at Ross's - 10/2/2009 4:12 PM
It's not going to have any effect on suckers that I can see. I still have been getting a good supply in the store. It's really some BS that the Feds are hitting the bait suppliers with.
I guess I fail to see how it is BS what the Feds are doing? They didn't follow the laws according to the article correct? Everyone is so concerned about VHS ruining fish populations, yet now undoubtedly some will be peeed that the Feds are actually enforcing the restrictions they placed on the transportation of fish beyond state boundaries. Restrictions that are relatively easy to abide by. Would sure be a shame if VHS was brought into the state by the bait companies who ignored the regulations to protect that from happening. We will likely never know, but why take the chance. I hope that there is just some sort of mix up in paperwork, but if not I'm glad they got caught. Who knows what else could get transferred unknowingly. Might want to think things through before issuing such a broad statement about something being BS. |
Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | John at Ross's - 10/2/2009 6:55 PM
All I have to say is there are 2 sides to every story and the bait dealers havent been told yet. I do have a little insight in it being in the business and I'm sorry I posted that it was BS. I am all for protecting the fisheries but the other side of the story makes it look like big goverment comming down on the little guy for a paperwork error even though everything else was done right, and the little guy not having enough money to fight it without shutting down the whole bait industry.
John, I do hope you are correct that it was a simple paperwork error. I know journalism is generally biased in some sort of way. I would actually be surprised if they didn't follow the regulations, so hopefully this will clear up. |
