A fish-farm operator and three watermen in Southern Maryland are to appear in court soon to answer federal charges that they illegally caught and sold $150,000 worth of wild largemouth bass that ended up in Asian markets and restaurants in North America.
Largemouth bass are prized as a sport fish and are the focus of popular fishing tournaments throughout the region. Nearly all sales of the species are prohibited.
Nine counts in the indictment by a federal grand jury in Baltimore this week involve alleged violations of the federal Lacey Act, which prohibits interstate trade in illegal wildlife. Each Lacey Act count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The remaining count, carrying the same penalty, was for a charge of conspiracy.
"The fact that it's a 10-count felony indictment points to the seriousness with which we look at these types of violations," said W. Warren Hamel, an assistant U.S. attorney handling the case.
An initial court appearance for the defendants will be in the next two weeks, Mr. Hamel said.
Dennis P. Woodruff, 47, an aquaculture facility operator of Bryans Road, Charles County, is suspected of buying 40,000 pounds of largemouth bass from watermen between 1990 and 1993 and selling them in New York, Georgia and Canada.
The watermen, who are suspected of taking the fish from the Potomac River and its tributaries, were identified as Alfred B. Grinder, 42, and Walter I. Maddox, 61, both of Marbury, Charles County; and Robert T. Brown Sr., 44, of Avenue, St. Mary's County.