Curtice man arraigned on fish poaching

The Great Outdoors with D'Arcy Egan

Curtice man arraigned on fish poaching

by D'Arcy Egan

Tuesday August 26, 2008The last of a large group of Ohio commercial fishing license holders snared in a 2003 undercover operation, Michael Szuch of Szuch Fisheries in Curtice, Ohio, was arraigned Friday in Lorain Common Pleas Court and charged with tampering with records and theft of yellow perch, both third-degree felonies.

During the investigations, state investigators documented more than 40 tons of yellow perch were caught and not reported by a group of Ohio commercial fishermen. It was the largest fish-poaching case in U.S. history, resulting in more than $360,000 in fines.

If convicted, Szuch faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a restitution value of more than $1.4 million for 56,424 pounds of yellow perch that wildlife investigators say were illegally caught in 2002 and 2003. Ohio legislation approved in January would require the court to permanently retire Szuch's three commercial fishing licenses.

Three other commercial fishermen were also been indicted, none of them commercial license holders. The names were withheld until they are arraigned in court, said Ryan Miday of the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, which has taken the lead since 2003 in prosecuting the commercial fishermen.


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