ANOTHER STURGEON POACHER HOOKED

Department of Fisheries and Oceans officers believe there's a trend
underway that involves poaching sturgeon, and growing marijuana.

That's not as odd as it seems in light of two recent investigations which
resulted in the seizure of $850,000 worth of marijuana and several sturgeon
found in the suspects' homes.

Last week, the Delta police seized $350,000 worth of marijuana and a live
sturgeon in the suspect's kitchen fridge. Fishery officers, who were called
by police, were able to rescue the fish. They later released the sturgeon
into the Fraser River.

In a reversal of last week's bust, on Saturday, fishery officers found a
man poaching sturgeon in the Fraser next to River Road in Delta and
followed him home to Surrey, where the DFO found an active marijuana grow
op worth $500,000, and two dead sturgeon.

"I think we have a major trend here,'" said concerned fisheries officer
Paul Cottrell. "We need to stop this."

The sturgeon sells on the black market for $100 to $500 a piece while the
female roe can go for thousands of dollars.

While Delta South Richmond MP John Cummins congratulates the officers on
the recent investigations, he doesn't expect to see those kind of results
too often. The officers investigating Saturday's incident worked 24 hours
without pay.

"They've got no budget for overtime and their enforcement budget has been
cut drastically," Cummins said.

There are an estimated 47,000 sturgeon in the Fraser River.