LSONews.com
LoneOStar Outdoor News
April 14, 2017
Page 21
Massive illegal seafood network uncovered A Houston restaurateur and two local restaurant companies have been charged with operating an illegal seafood network that funneled nearly 28,000 pounds of unlawfully caught finfish through their establishments at a profit estimated at more than $400,000. Based on evidence gathered during a two-year investigation, Texas game wardens believe the illegal network has been ongoing since at least 2013 and could be the largest of its kind in Texas history. The illegal catches were made by a web of about a dozen unlicensed commercial fishermen and sold to the restaurants. Their catches consisted primarily of red snapper, along with other protected game fish species, including tuna, amberjack, grouper and red drum. Texas game wardens allege that Bruce Molzan, 59, of Houston, purchased and then sold the illegal finfish off the menus at restaurant businesses he is associated with — Ruggles Green and Ruggles Black. Another restaurant also illegally sold shrimp to Molzan for use in his restaurants in violation of commercial fish wholesale
regulations. Wardens issued more than 200 Class C misdemeanor citations, including unlawful purchase of aquatic products by a restaurant, sales and purchases of protected finfish, operating without a wholesale fish dealer’s license and related commercial fishing-related issues. Additional cases are anticipated. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration special agents and the U.S. Coast Guard assisted in the investigation. NOAA also filed felony charges against two recreational anglers in Freeport in connection with the case. The scope of the investigation expanded significantly last April after U.S. Coast Guard crews stopped an unlicensed commercial fishing boat in coastal waters near Freeport with 488 red snapper weighing approximately 1,900 pounds. Texas game wardens and the National Marine Fisheries Service seized the fish and investigators were able to link the subjects with the illegal seafood operation. —TPWD
Drone data Continued from page 1
game lands. The recordings collected by the drone were fed into a computer, which identified and counted the birds based on their calls. “If a human can tell the difference between two species, a computer can,” said Wilson, an assistant professor at Gettysburg College. The experiments on state game lands directly compared data obtained by drone with traditional ground-based surveys of the same areas. Overall, there were few significant differences between the results produced by the two methods. Although the data collected was mainly on songbirds, the technique would be just as valid on most game birds, Wilson said. His study collected mourning dove data, but doves were undercounted because their low-frequency calls weren’t picked up easily by the recorder due to the drone noise. However, Wilson said that as technology improves, the limitation with dove and other species will be removed. “Oh yeah, absolutely, it could be used on grouse and turkey. I have no doubt it could be useful,” Wilson said. Jason Hardin, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department turkey program leader, was intrigued with the possibility and has considered uses for drones in management efforts as well. Hardin said biologists looked into the possibility of equipping infrareds on drones and flying them where turkey roost, then counting them via heat signature. Another idea is to use drones to flush quail to get a count or even count big horn sheep and deer. That job is currently done via helicopter. The problem is that regulations mandate that drones can’t be used out of line of sight currently, he said, which limits the application. “I think this has a lot of potential for technology moving into the future,” Hardin said. Jordan Menge, a biologist with Quail and Pheasants Forever near Lubbock, said technology such as drones could help verify game bird populations. In the case of quail management, that could help biologist determine what steps should be taken to maintain their numbers. “I think it could be a great technology. It’s just going to allow us to see what’s out there,” Menge said.
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