ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 12, 1997 TAG: 9704140066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Marine Resources Commission says they were just observing what they thought was a legal catch.
A two-month investigation of baby eel poaching that has yielded charges against six people also has embarrassed a state commission whose employees are accused of illegally catching the small fish.
Baby American eels are a delicacy overseas, bringing in as much as $325 a pound. Their sale is illegal in Virginia.
Two Virginia Marine Resources Commission employees were caught fishing for the baby eels on March 29 at a lake north of Smithfield in Isle of Wight County, court records show. VMRC officials call the charges a mistake.
Ellen Cosby of New Kent and Lewis Gillingham of Norfolk were charged with trespassing and illegal possession of fish, charges punishable by a maximum of 112 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.
Cosby's husband, Warren, also was charged with illegal possession of fish and trespassing in the March 29 incident. Warren Cosby has an experimental permit to catch the baby eels in state waters, but had told wildlife officials he'd be in Surry County that day, not Isle of Wight.
``Is this an embarrassing situation for us? Yes it is,'' VMRC spokesman Wilford Kale said Thursday, adding that he expected the charges to be dismissed when the case is heard May 22. ``But more directly, it's unfortunate, because we believe our people were acting in good faith.''
Kale said Ellen Cosby and Gillingham were only observing what they thought was Warren Cosby's legal, experimental harvest of the two- to six-inch eels.
``This whole thing's gotten blown out of proportion,'' Warren Cosby said. ``I complied with my permit. We're really talking about a misunderstanding over a trespassing call.''
The state probe into elver poaching, started after wildlife officials received an anonymous letter in February, has centered mostly on James River tributaries in South Hampton Roads.
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