Wildlife agent: Informant harassed over fish-poaching probe

[GLF]

CLEVELAND - A commercial fisherman turned informant who helped investigators nab others stealing tons of yellow perch from Lake Erie has left the business amid harassment from his former colleagues, a state wildlife official said.

Kevin Ramsey, head of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' enforcement unit in Sandusky, said other commercial fishermen are lashing out at Ed Szuch Jr. The two-year investigation led to charges against 14 fishermen and five companies accused of netting and selling 40 tons of yellow perch, with an estimated value of nearly $1 million, in excess of quotas in 2002 and 2003.

"It's pretty sad," Ramsey said. "They make the honest guys out to be the bad guys, and they don't think they did anything wrong."

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