The California Department of Fish and Wildlife launched a wild investigation into a local, illegal caviar operation in November 2020, leading to the arrest of eight people on suspicion of illegal fishing, the East Bay Times reports. The suspects are accused of fishing sturgeon in the Carquinez Strait and Sacramento River — highly illegal since sturgeon are a threatened species and federally protected — and selling the sturgeon caviar for $150 a pound, versus the $100 an ounce prices caviar of that type can typically command.
The East Bay Times reports authorities called the illegal caviar operation “one of the biggest” their department has seen, and wraps in other elements, such as “illegal weapons possession, counterfeit cash, and 1,000 pounds of suspected illegal cannabis” found when a search warrant was served last April. Contra Costa prosecutors will also file poaching charges, conspiracy charges, and “dozens” of littering counts against the suspects. Read the fascinating story here.