Wisconsin 'Sturgeon General' charged with lying about caviar scheme
0The fish eggs were supposed to be for research, not for eating -- but a US biologist reportedly known as Wisconsin's 'sturgeon general' was hatching another plan. Ryan Koenigs, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources' top sturgeon expert, was charged Thursday with one count of obstructing a conservation warden, which is a misdemeanor punishable by up to nine months in jail and $10,000 in fines. Online court records did not list an attorney for him. DNR spokeswoman Sarah Hoye said Koenigs was placed on administrative leave Thursday but declined further comment. He could be the first of many to be charged in what investigators allege was a wide-ranging scheme involving multiple DNR employees and caviar processors.The scientist allegedly accepted at least $20,000 in kickbacks in the form of jars of caviar from a processor in exchange for eggs intended for research, according to the New York Times, citing a Winnebago County filing. The eggs can go for $100 an ounce. Sturgeon are bony fish that can grow as large as 12 feet (3.6 meters) long and their eggs are highly coveted as caviar. Wisconsin, which prides itself on outdoor traditions such as hunting and fishing, holds an sturgeon spearing season every February on the Lake Winnebago system near Oshkosh, about 90 miles (142 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee. This year's season is set to begin Saturday.According to the criminal complaint, Koenigs has served as the DNR's top sturgeon biologist since 2012 and is the lead coordinator for the department's spearing season, which is held every February on the Lake Winnebago system. He oversees the roughly 60 DNR workers who staff registration stations during the season.The DNR and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began a joint investigation in 2017 into allegations that DNR workers had been illegally selling or trading sturgeon caviar in violation of state and federal law. The investigation culminated in January 2020 and uncovered multiple people who were illegally selling, purchasing, bartering or trading sturgeon eggs, the complaint states.Investigators interviewed Koenigs in January 2020. He told them that DNR registration workers collect eggs as part of a fertility study. If a spearer wants the eggs back, the workers won't collect them or they'll return them after they've been studied, Koenigs said.Investigators asked him why workers at a registration station were putting eggs in a cooler marked for a caviar processor. Koenigs said he didn't know the processor, that staff shouldn't be taking custody of eggs and that he didn't know the processor kept a cooler at the station.He said he had never called the processor. When the investigators showed him phone records confirming that Koenigs had in fact done so in May 2018, he said he didn't know what he and the processor discussed, but that he was sure it wasn't sturgeon eggs. Share this article Share He insisted he didn't know that any DNR workers were collecting eggs and giving them to members