Fish fight brews on St. Johns

<a href=www.orlandosentinel.com>OrlandoSentinel.com By Pamela J. Johnson | Sentinel Staff Writer Posted April 27, 2003

Armored-catfish study For the first time, the state is conducting a "life-history study" on the species of armored catfish called brown hoplo and its possible effects on other fish in the St. Johns River. The study, which tracks what they eat and how they reproduce, is expected to be completed by year's end.

CHRISTMAS -- Each morning, they arrive for a full day of fishing. On weekends, a long line forms at the boat ramp.

The dedicated fishermen aren't fishing the upper St. Johns River for bass, bluegill or black crappies.

At sunset, they will pack their coolers with armored catfish -- "trash fish" to most locals.

"I wouldn't feed it to my cat," said a disgusted Frank Peacock, an airboat operator from Christmas. "They taste nasty."

But armored catfish is considered a delicacy for fishermen originally from Guyana, who travel from as far as New York to cast their nets in search of them.

That is angering longtime anglers, who say the newcomers have taken over the Highway 50 Boat Ramp in east Orange County and illegally stripped the upper river of game fish with their nets.

Nearly 1,000 people have signed a petition urging state officials to "Stop the Rape and Death of our River by Cast Netters."

The armored-catfish fishermen say they have the proper permits to be there and that the upper St. Johns River is one of the few areas in Florida where the fish can be found.

Fishermen from Guyana at the upper St. Johns River said that armored catfish is in high demand in South American communities in the United States and can be sold for about $10 a pound.

But they said they catch the armored catfish -- covered with tiny dark brown platelets that make them appear dressed for battle -- only to feed their extended families. The fish, also widely found in Trinidad, Martinique, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru and Paraguay, is boiled and the scaly outer skin is removed. It's soaked in lemon juice, stewed in curry and served with rice.

"It's better than ahi tuna," Radesh Arjoon, 32, a truck driver who immigrated from Guyana and lives in DeLand, said recently at the boat ramp. He learned that the upper St. Johns River was a hot spot for armored catfish a year ago, when he lived in New York City.

Arjoon said he has had one run-in with a fisherman who accused him of taking game fish -- which legally can only be caught with a fishing rod.

"They don't like us, and I don't know why," said Arjoon, pouring a few bucketsful of the fish into a cooler after an eight-hour day.

He said his weekly catches feed his wife and three children and sometimes his friends. "With a little curry," he added, "it's really, really good."

Peacock has no use for the fish. He said he routinely went bass fishing in the upper river until the armored catfish and cast netters came along, wiping out the game fish. "No one bothers to bass fish here anymore," he said.

Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission officials say the tropical fish was most likely introduced to the area two years ago by illegal aquarium dumping.

"I wish the cold weather we had would've killed them all," Peacock said of the armored catfish.

In a petition that he sent to state officials, Jon Sharp, a retired technical writer from Christmas, said that a severe drought had left water levels extremely low on the St. Johns River when the armored catfish and the cast netters appeared. Because the water was so low, he said, the nets caught not only catfish, but loads of game fish such as bass and bluegill. But the cast netters didn't throw back the game fish, as legally required, he said.

"The cast netters say they are after armored catfish," Sharp said. "Maybe so, but what happened to all the other fish?"

State officials say there is no evidence that the number of game fish has decreased in the upper river.

"We've done the studies, and there is no smoking gun," said Bob Eisenhauer, a state fisheries biologist based in Melbourne. A year ago, the state analyzed the amounts of different fish species at the upper river and determined that there was no significant decline in game fish, he said.

As a result of the complaints, state law enforcement officers stepped up patrol in the area. In several months, officers issued a handful of citations to cast netters taking game fish or fishing without the proper license.

"We extended a lot of time and effort in responding to the complaints," said Andy Love, a regional commander for the state Fish & Wildlife law-enforcement division. "And we shot down their accusations."

Officer Brian Baine, who works with Love, remembered hiding in bushes and watching the cast netters unload their catch. "I checked them and checked them," Baine said. "And I never could make an arrest."

Baine and others think that the conflict between Florida fishermen and those from other countries is a result of a culture clash.

"Here are these strangers coming in throwing their nets, some of them speaking little English," Baine said. "They just don't like them."

"That's the biggest bunch of baloney I've ever heard," said John Long, an airboat operator from Christmas. "We just don't like what they're doing. I've been fishing here for 40 years, and now you can't even catch supper."

Pamela J. Johnson can be reached at pjohnson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5171.