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Here's another example of why all commercial fishing ought to be banned - especially on Lake Erie. I understand what happens. The workers consider anything but their target species as vermin and figure if they kill it when they dump it, that's one less they might catch and have to handle again. Also, time is money, ever watched how unceremoniously the undersized crabs are tossed on the Deadliest Catch. This was not the first offense for this company. Ought to pull their license and then retire it.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has charged a prominent Lake Erie commercial fishing operation with more than 20 wildlife violations. Investigators from the Division of Wildlife observed employees of Curtice, Ohio-based Szuch Fishery Inc. allegedly injure a “trophy-sized” muskellunge that had been caught in their commercial fishing net in western Lake Erie.

The Szuch employees, including owner Michael Szuch, his wife, Holly, and Joseph Imre, Jr., also allegedly pulled numerous longnose gar from the nets, broke the spines of the fish, and discarded the carcasses into the lake. Both species are native to Lake Erie, with muskellunge one of the most challenging gamefish to catch by anglers.

“This type of behavior is unexpected and unacceptable,” said Matt Leibengood, law enforcement supervisor for the Division of Wildlife’s Lake Erie Enforcement unit.

Szuch Fishery is scheduled to appear in Oregon Municipal Court to face charges of one count of “causing intentional injury to a non-commercial fish species” as well as 10 counts of stream littering and 10 counts of illegally disposing of dead fish. The three Szuch employees are also each charged with one count of stream littering and one count of illegally disposing of dead fish.

Szuch Fishery has one of Ohio’s 18 commercial trap net licenses for Lake Erie. Szuch Fishery could face a maximum penalty of a $55,000 fine and a 30-day suspension of its ability to run a commercial fishing operation if it is convicted of the charges. The three Szuch employees face a maximum penalty of $750 and 90 days in jail.

Probably plead it down, pay the fine and never do a day in jail. Unless they make the penalties worse, they will never stop this kind of activity.

A quick Google search and it appears that they are a commercial perch company and they have been involved in previous lawsuits for poaching (not reporting all fish caught) and abuse of game fish.

This is an interesting article that includes their perspective from a business side. Not condoning their practices, but some interesting commentary.

beltmag.com/politics-local-perch-fish-entree-shipped-canada/

It's a hard balance between commercial and recreational fishing. I'm already locked out of buying walleye and perch regularly due to the price. Making it harder to catch fish commercially will only make it more expensive for us to eat gamefish if we don't catch it ourselves. (Don't tell my wife how much it REALLY costs to put that fresh Coho and King salmon on our plates at home!)

I've ranted too much about commercial fishing. The biggest problem is regulating and enforcement. I was told by a CO in Ohio once (and I'm sure it would be similar in any other Great Lake state), "I could write a ticket on every commercial boat, just about every day they go fishing. I can't check them at all. Occasionally, we are permitted to spot check the commercial boats, but the owners are told there are going to be officers checking you today." If they don't do it that way, the commercials cry out they are being picked on and they don't complain to the DNR, they complain to local mayors, state congressmen, the governor or to the media who write nice stories about their "family" businesses, barely scraping by, more in it for the tradition than to eek out a living.

Most DNRs require self-reporting of the catch and give the commercials daily or seasonal catch limits. How well would the highway speed limits work if all a person had to do when pulled over was tell the officer, "I was only going 55 mph" and they had to believe them.

There have been many "sting" operations pulled on commercial fishermen on the Great Lakes in the past 40 years or so. Every time (not a few cases or occasionally) every time, the vast majority of the boats were far over their allotments and often selling "non-target" species as well. Don't even get me started on the tribal fishermen up north where only "tribal cops" are allowed to check them. Or the Canadian commercial fishermen on their side of the lakes.

Here's a quote from an old, retired commercial fisherman on Lake Superior I met several years ago. "I've no doubt if they hadn't finally shut us down, we'd have caught the last lake trout in Lake Superior."

Sorry.... I guess I ranted.