10-07-2005, 04:33 PM
[font "Arial"]A southwest Colorado man who stocked waters in New Mexico, Utah and Colorado with trout raised in his private fish-production facility that was infected with whirling disease has pleaded guilty to several federal charges and will pay nearly $30,000 in fines and restitution fees.
Dwight Babcock, 59, owner of Cannibal Canyon Ranches in Marvel, Colo., pleaded guilty in federal court in Durango on Sept. 30 to seven criminal counts of knowingly selling, transporting, and stocking wildlife illegally in New Mexico and Utah. As part of the plea agreement, Babcock also acknowledged that he stocked fish from his hatchery into rivers in Colorado at least 125 times between 1997 and 2003.
The investigation showed that he stocked fish in at least 72 locations in rivers and streams in La Plata, Archuleta, Montezuma and Dolores counties. He is known to have stocked fish along private sections of the Piedra, San Juan, West Dolores, Animas and Rio Blanco rivers. Babcock was paid by landowners to stock the fish.
Babcock entered the plea following a two-year joint investigation by more than a dozen wildlife and law enforcement officials from the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Utah, New Mexico, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the United States Attorney’s Office in Colorado.
According to court documents, Babcock’s fish-production facility first tested positive for whirling disease in 1997. It tested positive again in 1998, 1999 and 2002.
Whirling disease, which is devastating to trout, is caused by a microscopic parasite that infects the soft cartilage of young fish. The disease kills most young fish that it infects. In fish that survive whirling disease causes severe deformities that cause fish to swim in aimless circles. Whirling disease has no affect on human health.
Mike Japhet, an aquatic biologist for the Colorado Division of Wildlife in Durango, said Babcock’s stocking could have serious negative effects on Wild Trout waters and important Cutthroat Trout Conservation Waters in southwest Colorado.
“Once whirling-disease positive fish are released, there’s not much we can do. The only place we can logically control the disease is at the hatchery,” Japhet said.
Whirling disease was introduced accidentally into Colorado during the 1980s when a private hatchery stocked rivers with infected fish. The infestation caused a collapse of Rainbow trout populations in several self-sustaining high-country waters. Native Cutthroat trout also are susceptible to the disease.
The disease eventually spread to hatcheries operated by the DOW. The agency was forced to spend approximately $11 million to modernize trout hatcheries that raise fish for mountain waters. Those hatcheries now are free of whirling disease. In addition, the DOW has spent about $500,000 per year since 1995 to study the disease.
“The disease devastated many high-quality trout fisheries,” said Eric Hughes, statewide aquatic manager for the DOW. “We continue to be concerned about the release of whirling-disease positive fish.”
Private hatcheries that stock trout must be certified as whirling-disease free.
The DOW certified Babcock’s hatchery as being free of whirling disease in early 2005. He will not be allowed to stock any waters in New Mexico or import any fish to that state. He will be allowed to stock waters in Colorado. He also can sell fish to restaurants and food retailers.
Babcock’s fines included: $4,800 to the federal government; $15,000 to the state of New Mexico; and $10,000 to the Colorado State University Research Foundation to be used for whirling disease research. He is also on probation for three-years with the U.S. Justice Department.
Japhet urged landowners who are considering stocking private waters to be cautious. All private hatcheries are inspected once each year by state officials. Land owners who are considering buying fish from private firms should request to see the state-issued certificate that proves the hatchery is certified as negative for whirling disease.
“Responsible trout growers won’t mind showing a document that proves that their hatcheries are free of whirling disease,” Japhet said.
Anyone who is concerned that fish infected with whirling disease are being stocked in high-country trout waters should contact Operation Game Thief at 1-877-265-6648, or the closest DOW office.[/font]
[signature]