Conservation officers in British Columbia have opened a criminal investigation after video emerged of two fishermen allegedly poaching an endangered sturgeon.
The Aug. 31 video shows two men dragging a giant white sturgeon into their truck off the shores of the Fraser River in Chilliwack, B.C. The fisherman who captured the video called British Columbia’s poaching hotline, but by the time officers arrived, the truck was long gone.
Conservation authorities identified the suspects after returning to the same location later that day. Officers say charges and fines are possible, but they’re still piecing together the evidence.
The mature sturgeon in the video appears to weigh about 135 kilograms, which could be worth hundreds of dollars on the black market.
“Most of the time it’s probably for sale…and if eggs are in there, it's caviar,” Acting Sgt. Don Stahl with the B.C. Conservation Officer Service told CTV Vancouver. “That can be quite valuable.”
Sturgeon fishing is popular in the area, but the fish are strictly catch-and-release as the Department of Fisheries and Oceans considers them endangered.
“People are disgusted,” said Brody Mansell, a fishing guide in the region. “The whole fishing community is just astonished those people would actually take a fish of that size right in front of other people.”
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Sheila Scott
