Caviar Anyone?

[wily]

Former Shell Knob man accused of harvesting fish eggs for caviar

By Jeff Lehr

jlehr@joplinglobe.com

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — It’s probably not going to earn 38-year-old Thomas J. Nix Jr. any nominations for Sportsman of the Year.

A federal grand jury in Springfield indicted the former Shell Knob resident Wednesday in connection with the alleged harvesting of paddlefish eggs caught in illegal nets at Table Rock Lake and processing them into caviar for sales in Tennessee.

Nix, who now lives in Memphis, Tenn., was charged in a seven-count indictment accusing him and an unindicted co-conspirator of transporting and selling paddlefish roe taken in violation of state and federal laws for about seven weeks from Dec. 31 through Feb. 17. In a little more than four weeks, between Jan. 11 and Feb. 11, Nix sold about 387 pounds of the caviar to a Tennessee company for $35,820, according to the indictment.

Agents of the Missouri Department of Conservation nabbed Nix and his co-conspirator Feb. 17 in alleged possession of 78.3 pounds of unprocessed paddlefish roe, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Missouri said in a news release. Nix and his co-conspirator allegedly took eight paddlefish from Table Rock Lake on that occasion and extracted their roe, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

Another 91.32 pounds of paddlefish caviar, processed and packaged in containers for sale to the Tennessee company, allegedly were discovered at Nix’s home in Shell Knob and seized by the agents.

Paddlefish native to the Mississippi River basin have been declining in population because of over-fishing and habitat changes, and are protected by state and federal laws, the federal prosecutor’s office said.

Female paddlefish reach reproductive maturity at nine to 11 years of age and can weigh 50 to 100 pounds. They may hold five to 10 pounds of roe.

Nix allegedly set gill nets, commercial fishing nets set vertically in the water to entangle swimming fish by their gills, on Table Rock Lake in Stone and Barry counties. The U.S. attorney’s office said he would return to check on the nets every few days, removing the fish he’d caught, and relocating the nets as the fish moved upstream to spawn.

Nix allegedly split open the fish suspected of containing roe, extracted the eggs by hand, bagged them and placed them in a cooler to be taken back to his home. He would also weight the carcasses of the fish with rocks and sink them in the lake to avoid detection, the federal prosecutor’s office said.

He sold it to the caviar processing and sales company in Tennessee at various locations in that state by falsely representing it as caviar lawfully taken in Arkansas, the prosecutor’s office said.

The indictment charges him with a single count of possessing and transporting roe taken in violation of federal regulations and five counts of transporting paddlefish caviar across state lines. An allegation is included that would require Nix to forfeit to the government all vehicles and equipment used to commit the offense, including a 20-foot Bumblebee 200 Pro boat and trailer with a 225 hp engine, a global positioning system, three gill nets and a digital scale.

A close relative of the sturgeon, the paddlefish’s roe produces a caviar similar to sturgeon caviar and has become a popular substitute in the face of diminishing sturgeon populations worldwide and international protection for declining stocks, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

[techo]

I don't like that guy

[WebFreeman]

Be nice if the News-Leader would cover this since the dateline is Springfield, Mo. I'm glad he was caught. If each fish held 10lbs of roe (the article says that's about the max) that would be 55.6 fish one poacher killed. That's awful.

[SKMO]

The guy was technically living at SK, he had a house rented on Royal Point (across from Sweetwater access on the Kings River). But he was actually a resident of Arkansas and had just rented a house up here for his poaching endeavors. Upon his arrest he said he liked it here so much he was looking to buy a house here, glad he ended up in TN. If I am not mistaken he said he was a "fishing guide" in AR, and he also had his teenage son working with him... the "unindicted co-conspirator".

He said he made one middle of the night run from Sweetwater to around Piney creek on the James, by my calculations an 80 mile round trip, in December. Too cold and he burned too much gas so he started trailering and launching up the James, Wooly Creek I think. I believe his nets were discovered by an angler throwing a DD22 !

I heard this all firsthand from one of the arresting officers, but it was a few months ago and I may have a fact or two a little off.

SK

[WebFreeman]

I was surprised he was able to get away w/ it for so long. W/ the depthfinders you guys use now, someone could have seen his fingerprints on the nets. Amazing that someone would go to such lengths, but by my calculations, he had over $50,000 worth of eggs either sold, ready to be sold or ready to be processed. I guess 50k will make people go to a lot of effort.

SKMO, I'm guessing the crankbait fisherman then call the dept of conv? I hope he got/gets a reward.

[SKMO]

SKMO, I'm guessing the crankbait fisherman then call the dept of conv? I hope he got/gets a reward.

He did call MDC. If the person called it in on the OGT (Operation Game Thief) Hotline he might have got a reward. Info on OGT is at http://www.mdc.mo.gov/hunt/gamethief/

1-800-392-1111

However, even if he did call it in on OGT, there is a good chance he did not request any reward money. I believe only about 40% of the people calling into OGT request the $, the other 60% just want to help out. I personally would get enough satisfaction out of having the sh*tbum busted, I don't need to be compensated for doing the right thing.

Program this number in your cell, along with the number of your local Conservation Agent. If you can't get him/her directly the OGT number is answered 24/7 and they will dispatch an Agent for an adjoining county if is warrented.

[WebFreeman]

I bet a lot of people wouldn't have realized what they hooked into. I wonder how many other fish died in those nets as well. It gets worse the more you think about it.

[techo]

Piney Creek area is a sweet bass area too. I hate that guy even more! Even teaching his son the improper way to live.

[Predator1]

He dam well deserves what he gets for that. I fished for the Prehistoric fish for the first time this year. That was the largest freshwaterfish I ever caught, weighing in at 96lbs. I fought him for 30 minutes on the James River. I also caught one that was probably around 120lbs. My fishing pardner was too afraid to get in the water with him. He said the fish was bigger than him. I fought that fish for a good 45minutes till it broke my line on the rock shelfs. That was the best fight I ever had next to a 35lb Striper on Lake Lanier in Georgia.

I sure am glad they caught that guy. It's a sad thing knowing those fish lived for nothing. My Grandmother taught me how to fish when I was 2years old. She always said dont keep more than you can eat, but put back in the lake what you can enjoy to fight another day, for the good Lord will always provide. Bless her heart.

Anyway, they'll probably put him in a cage with BUBBA.

[lonestarone]

Thats funny , his name is Bubba and everything that is written here is not even close to the truth! He did not sink the carcasses, he extracted the rowe abd give the meat to the poor and hungry who worked at local chicken houses. Secondly I promise it was all worth it, those fish were worth about 1500 to 2500 bucks a piece and its nothing to catch 100 plus a day! However its very hard work and its not illegal everywhere, at least he wasnt selling drugs to kids or killing just for the sport of it like you so called sportsmen! He was not caught by sime idiot out fishing, nobody hooked one if his nets with a lure or anything, he was turned in by a local meth manufacturer for a reward, im sure the reward was spent to make more meth! This guy is my hero and is a genius! Who wouldnt go to jail for a year to make over hakf million bucks? He went to a Federal camp that didnt even have a fence or jail cells, probably ate better than we do?