On Feb. 15, a federal grand jury returned indictments against four Maryland men, charging them with conspiracy to take and sell large quantities of largemouth bass from the Potomac River and its tributaries.
In its simplest terms, the alleged largemouth bass network -- which investigators say operated from Maryland to Ontario and to New York, Georgia, Michigan and other states -- would be poaching on an ignominious scale.
The case -- which has drawn the attention of state and federal enforcement agencies, has seen the use of radio transmitters implanted in wild bass to track their movement and has been spurred on by representatives of recreational fishermen -- seems to be an example of enforcement on a grand scale.
But for every black bass case, there are dozens of lesser cases and certainly hundreds of unreported incidences of waterfowl, game and fish poaching across Maryland. Poaching is the act of taking game or fish illegally.
"Poaching in Maryland is pretty much the same as it is in most of America," said Maj. Mike Howard, eastern area commander of the state Natural Resources Police. "There is a segment of people who continue to abuse the resources we have. It is a small fraction, really, but to target and apprehend them, we have our hands full."
Howard said the NRP has the same number of enforcement personnel as it had in 1968, but since has picked up responsibilities for boating safety, search-and-rescue operations and criminal activity on Chesapeake Bay.
"One of the key problems with poaching, unlike normal crimes, is that people usually aren't in position to see it and report it," Howard said. "Usually it happens in remote areas away from other people and, of course, the resource itself can't report it.
"The best things for the resource are an officer who knows where the resource is and where people are likely to go to get it, and citizens who see things and report them.
"Without their eyes and ears, we couldn't function at all."
For example, NRP officers acting on information from a confidential informant served a search and seizure warrant recently at the residence of a person suspected of illegally taking trophy deer from Seneca State Park.
The officers seized 27 deer racks, three deer heads and several turkey parts from animals believed to have been killed illegally.
An investigation in Rock Hall, on the Eastern Shore, resulted in 1,595 counts of possession of striped bass in closed season and the seizure of a truck, generator and 1,060 pounds of striped bass.
A 10-month investigation resulted in the arrest of a Garrett County hunter for illegally killing a black bear; an investigation into the killings of two other black bears in Garrett County is continuing. There is no hunting season for black bear in Maryland.
Howard said the 10-month investigation into the killing of the Garrett County bear is more typical than the two-years-plus black bass case, which "is one of the largest cases of its kind in the nation, ever."
As with the black bear case, Howard said, "Something happens on a certain day and you work it hard until you run out of active leads, just as in any criminal case.
"But the case goes on and the officer or officers continue to pick up pieces as they make their rounds. You know, you talk to different people and ask, 'Say, you got anything on this that or the other,' and eventually, a piece of evidence pops up and they solve that case."
Again it is the eyes and ears of individuals concerned with the state of the resource -- whether it is deer populations, waterfowl and game birds, fish or protected species -- that help make enforcement of fish and game laws possible. And it is enforcement of those laws that help to keep the resource available to the people of the state.
"Our resources are not all what they once were and the resources are under increased people pressure and have been hurt by habitat loss," Howard said. "And because of it, regulation is required to keep resource levels within acceptable limits.
"Our job as police is to enforce those regulations. But part of enforcement is education, too."
The recovery of the rockfish (striped bass), Howard said, is a good example of how education can help with enforcement of fishery regulations.
"People have come to realize what it takes to keep striped bass a viable resource through regulations on the catch," Howard said. "They have come to understand why it is better to take only a few of the larger fish than many of the smaller ones."
Still, there are sportsmen and commercial fishermen who poach -- whether it is a hunter taking deer or bear out of season, a weekend angler or a guy who makes his living from the water.
"People need to realize that poaching is poaching, whether it is a sportsman who goes out and keeps one undersized rockfish or a commercial [fisherman] who keeps many," Howard said. "It is just as important that the sportsman abide by the rules as the commercial guy."
Eliminating poaching may be impossible because the territory to be policed is so great, the police force relatively small and the poachers often very good at what they do.
"Poachers are always finding a new way out," Howard said. "Those very few people looking to make a quick buck and not interested in long-term protection of the resource will find a way."
One way to stop them is to use NRP's 24-hour Catch A Poacher Hotline, (800) 635-6124.
Make a call and get them gone.