
DATE: Friday, April 11, 1997                TAG: 9704110597

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY SCOTT HARPER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ISLE OF WIGHT                     LENGTH:  132 lines

STATE WORKERS NETTED IN EEL POACHING PROBE AN AGENCY SPOKESMAN CALLS THE TRESPASS CHARGES AGAINST THE TWO A MISTAKE.

A state wildlife investigation into what officials believe is a poaching ring illegally selling baby eels to Asia for big profits has snared a surprising catch - two state employees.

Two staffers with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, the agency that regulates seafood and conserves marine life, have been charged with trespassing while fishing without permission for baby eels, or elvers, according to court records and state officials.

The trespassing charge carries a maximum penalty of 112 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.

But commission spokesman Wilford Kale said the charges are a mistake and that the employees - Ellen B. Cosby of New Kent and Lewis S. Gillingham of Norfolk - were only observing what they thought was a legal harvest of elvers.

Kale was optimistic that their cases would be dismissed when heard May 22 in Isle of Wight General District Court.

``Is this an embarrassing situation for us? Yes it is,'' he said. ``But more directly, it's unfortunate, because we believe our people were acting in good faith.''

Looking like a cross between a spaghetti noodle and a Gummy bear, elvers are two- to six-inch-long babies of the American eel, a high-dollar delicacy in European and Asian markets.

While their sale is illegal in Virginia, elvers can sell for as much as $325 a pound on the black market, officials estimated. Elvers often are exported to merchants overseas, many in China, who grow the transparent, worm-like creatures to market size on private fish farms, said Rob O'Reilly, a state fisheries expert.

The two state employees were accompanied by Cosby's husband, Warren, who holds one of the two experimental permits to catch elvers in state waters. No one else is allowed to catch or possess elvers in Virginia smaller than six inches in length, according to state conservation regulations.

At about 1:45 a.m. on March 29, wildlife agents saw the trio netting elvers on private property on the edge of Tormentors Lake, just north of the town of Smithfield, according to Kale and court records.

Warren Cosby, who is attempting to start the first private elver farm in Virginia, was also charged with illegal possession of fish and with trespassing. His case is scheduled to be heard in Isle of Wight on May 22, according to records.

``This whole thing's gotten blown out of proportion,'' Cosby said Thursday. ``I complied with my permit; we're really talking about a misunderstanding over a trespassing call.''

While the incident may eventually be dismissed as a simple misunderstanding, it also has shone a light on an extensive state investigation into elver poaching, mostly on James River tributaries in South Hampton Roads.

Officials said they believe elvers are caught in Virginia and shipped north to merchants for processing to overseas buyers. No charges reflecting this type of poaching ring, which would violate interstate commerce law, have been filed. Officials said they are continuing to investigate.

An anonymous letter started the probe. The letter, received in February, led the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to jointly stake out select waters, usually at night, when elvers are most active, according to documents and officials.

Wildlife agents have since made six arrests, including three men from Maine and one from New Jersey. Both states have large elver fisheries, O'Reilly said.

In one incident, on Feb. 22, agents witnessed two men lying in thick underbrush near Reeds Ferry Dam, which separates Western Branch Lake and the Nansemond River. The property was posted as belonging to the city of Norfolk.

A search revealed that the men did not have fishing licenses. They were holding 24,000 undersized elvers in two 100-gallon containers, complete with an aeration system, thermometers and special lights, according to a state arrest report.

Daniel H. Taggert, of Naples, Maine, and Carl E. Bradford, of Millville, N.J., were arrested and charged with trespassing, fishing without a license, possessing elvers without a permit and unlawfully fishing with an unlicensed device. They were taken to the Suffolk Regional Jail; their case has been continued until later this month, Kale said.

Two other Maine residents have been prosecuted for similar state violations. Lowell Tibbetts Jr., of Ellsworth, Maine, and Edward Sargent, of East Sullivan, Maine, were caught with undersized elvers while fishing at 7:45 p.m. on Feb. 24 in Suffolk, records show.

They have paid a combined $2,600 in fines, and Tibbetts was sentenced to 15 days in jail, according to state records of the case.

Two Virginians - Andrew Sustare, of Carrollton, and Robert J. Lawson, of Ark - have forfeited a boat, fishing gear, $4,540 in cash and were fined a combined $1,500 in separate incidents involving elvers. One was in Isle of Wight County and one in Gloucester County, records show.

The American eel is unique in that its entire population is born from one large family that spawns each year on the warm, windless edge of the Sargasso Sea in the south Atlantic. Eels mate only once, then die.

The newborn elvers will slither north with the tides and warming temperatures, tumbling toward freshwater rivers and bays where they will mature into silvery adult eels that reach up to 15 inches in length.

The Chesapeake Bay system usually gets its share of elvers in late winter or early spring, O'Reilly said. They will remain here for about 10 years, the average time to reach sexual maturity, then make their lone migration south in what O'Reilly half-jokingly called their ``banzai spawning run.''

For decades, Virginia fishermen only caught mature eels, selling them as specialty seafood or to overseas markets. In recent years, as Asian aquaculture farms began to flourish, the demand for undersized babies in Virginia skyrocketed.

Cosby was granted the first state permit for an elver farm in Virginia. He can gather up to 600 pounds of elvers from any of five watersheds in the state, said Kale and O'Reilly.

The misunderstanding arose, Kale said, because Cosby is supposed to notify state wildlife officials where he intends to fish on a particular day. On March 29, records show, he was supposed to harvest elvers from Surry County.

But he moved east, to Isle of Wight County, without informing state law enforcement officials, according to records and officials. There, he, his wife and Gillingham were seen with nets and a tackle box by wildlife agents conducting surveillance at Tormentors Lake, records show.

Cosby said he did tell commission staff about his move 24 hours in advance, and that Gillingham was accompanying him to learn more about this fledgling fishery. He wants an apology from the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, and hopes the incident does not tarnish his new business.

``It's a sensitive situation with elvers now because of the investigation,'' Kale said. ``We just should have done a better job communicating.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Illustration]

JANET SHAUGHNESSY

The Virginian-Pilot

Baby elvers, actual size

WHY ELVERS?

The two- to six-inch-long babies of the American eel are a

high-dollar delicacy in European and Asian markets.

Their sale is illegal in Virginia and the elvers can fetch as

much as $325 a pound on the black market.

They are often exported to merchants overseas, many in China, who

grow the creatures to market size on private fish farms.

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