MISSOURI GAME OFFICIALS CRACK DOWN ON MUSSEL SHELL POACHERS

KENNETT -- The closure of the commercial mussel seasons in Illinois and Arkansas, along with the temptation of big profits, has touched off a scramble to loot Missouri's mussel resources, and enforcement agents with the Missouri Department of Conservation are fighting back by handing out felony charges to outlaw shellers.

From Aug. 15 to Sept. 10, the Department sold 75 mussel tags, which, in combination with non-resident commercial fishing permits, allow out-of-state residents to take mussels in Missouri. During the same period, conservation agents arrested 28 out-of-state shellers on felony charges connected with taking mussels from streams where commercial shelling is not permitted.

The largest number of arrests resulted from a traffic stop by the Missouri State Highway Patrol in New Madrid County. Patrolmen discovered mussel shells in a vehicle and alerted conservation agents, who arrested 18 Tennessee residents on Aug. 15 and 21 in connection with taking mussels from flood way ditches.

All were charged in New Madrid County Associate Circuit Court with stealing from the state of Missouri, a class-C felony.

Two other persons recently entered guilty pleas in connection with the illegal taking of fresh-water mussels from flood ditches in Dunklin County. The two were charged with stealing from the state of Missouri, a Class-C felony, were fined $2,000 each and received a suspended sentences of a year in the county jail. They were ordered to serve 20 days, followed by two years' supervised probation. The judge also confiscated equipment used in the illegal activities. Perhaps most painful for the violators was Sharp's decision to revoke all their hunting and fishing privileges in Missouri for life.

Conservation agents cooperating with St. Louis County Police used a helicopter Sept. 5 to nab two groups from Iowa and Tennessee taking mussels in the lower Meramec River. The seven men were charged in Jefferson County Associate Circuit Court with taking over the limit of mussels. (A sport fisherman may possess 25 mussels.)

The next day, conservation agents wrapped up a three-week undercover operation by arresting one person from Arkansas and two from Louisiana for taking mussels from a floodway ditch near Hornersville, in the Bootheel. The three were charged in Dunklin County Circuit Court with felony Stealing from the State.

Conservation Department Special Investigations Supervisor Larry Yamnitz said the more than 10,000 pounds of mussel shells seized in the past month would have brought from $2 to $6 per pound when sold for making jewelry or cultured pearls.

"Not all out-of-state shellers are lawbreakers," said Yamnitz. "But some can't seem to resist the small but rich mussel beds in Missouri's interior streams. It looks like easy pickings, but they're finding out that the cost of doing illegal business in Missouri is pretty high."

Shelling is allowed only in the Missouri River, the Mississippi River except for 3 miles below Lock and Dam 22 and in the part of the St. Francis River that forms the border between Missouri and Arkansas. Some interior streams support rich mussel populations, but these are too small to sustain commercial harvests, and could be devastated by illegal shelling.