Authorities in Indiana, Missouri and Oklahoma said they fear that higher caviar prices have contributed to a rise in poaching. Numbers of paddlefish have shrunk drastically in the past century. Dams have eliminated traditional spawning sites, interrupted natural spawning migrations and destroyed backwater areas for nursing and feeding, said Kim Graham, an official with the Missouri Department of Conservation. The paddlefish is considered an endangered species in several of the two dozen states where the fish has its habitat. About half of those states ban sport or commercial fishing for the species.
Many states prohibit sportsmen from selling wild fish and fish parts.