Caviar Crackdown: Officers Watching Sturgeon Poachers On Sacramento River

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — The arrest of six men accused of stealing sturgeon from the Sacramento River is the latest bust in a crackdown on California caviar poachers.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife has officers patrolling day and night looking for poachers and making sure some don't confuse fishing for poaching.

On a hot June day, the Sacramento River is swimming with sturgeon, and one family knows it as the dinosaur of the sea. The rare, seven-foot fish carrying tiny eggs can be worth big money.

While Mom has a fishing license, game wardens are on the hunt for those who don't.

"They are out there trafficking these fish for the purpose of trafficking the parts of the fish itself," said Capt. Patrick Foy.

As the appetite for black caviar grows, so does the black market.

"The sturgeon are moving into the Central Valley and up into the Sacramento River right here behind me," he said.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife just busted a ring of alleged caviar poachers, accused of processing the eggs for sale at hundreds of dollars an ounce.

The problem isn't new. Investigators say people are under constant surveillance, usually getting caught stuffing oversized sturgeon in the back of trunks.

The state allows people to catch no more than one sturgeon per day and bans all commercial sturgeon fishing in the Sacramento River.