Nine individuals are facing charges concerning illegal commercial catfish activity in multiple U.S. states, including Kentucky and Alabama.
In a Facebook post, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife wrote that game warden Cody Fox and other law enforcement officials, including the division’s Special Investigations Unit, began investigating illegal commercial catfishing activity at the state’s Barren River Lake and Green Valley Pay Lake in early 2024.
Fishing compliance checks and search warrants were carried out during the investigation, finding 71 occasions where thousands of pounds of catfish were harvested from Barren River Lake, which is not open to commercial fishing. According to Kentucky Fish and Wildlife investigators, the illegal harvest was sold to the owner of Green Valley Pay Lake in Glasgow, Kentucky. Green Valley is a pay lake, a privately owned body of water where people can pay to fish.
The individuals who sold the catfish were not licensed commercial fishermen, and the owner of Green Valley did not report any of their transactions, which is required by law. Two of the nine accused had allegedly caught over 6,000 pounds of catfish from waterways in Alabama and transported them to Kentucky. Pay Lake was the purchaser of the fish in this case as well.
Fish and Wildlife reported that the Green Valley individual “knowingly purchased the catfish from a restricted waterway, from individuals who were not licensed commercial fishermen, and failed to document any of the transactions as required by law.”
The Barren County Attorney’s Office said that a total of 81 charges are related to the violation of state law governing the transportation of protected wildlife, according to ABC News. Many of the fish caught in Alabama were ‘trophy-sized’ and weighed more than 60 pounds. The nine individuals face a total of 180 charges in Kentucky, with more pending in other states.
The investigation was a collective effort of Kentucky Fish and Wildlife game wardens, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the Alabama Game and Fish Division, and the Barren Country Attorney’s Office.
