"Fishzilla" Importer Netted

Officials have indicted a Brooklyn importer on charges of illegally importing the scary-looking "snakehead" fish, which is a freshwater fish native to China and Korea. It's a delicacy in those cultures, but it's also an invasive species that kills indigenous fish populations in North America. Snakeheads are air-breathers and can travel short distances over land, writhing their body and fins until they reach a suitable aquatic habitat. They have even been known to devour ducks and other mammals. Why, there's one slithering up your leg right now!

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown and investigators with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service have accused Yong Hao Wu, a co-owner of Howei Trading in Brooklyn, with importing thousands of snakeheads into the U.S. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison. According to prosecutors, investigators became suspicious last year when an inspector with the state Department of Environmental Conservation was looking over a shipment of fish imported from Macau by Howei Trading Inc., which had declared the fish as the Chinese black sleeper. But they were snakeheads. And they were hungry.

During subsequent interrogation, Wu allegedly confessed to shipping 3,889 Chinese black sleeper fish on six prior shipments last year as well. This kind of thing has been illegal in New York State since 2004, but despite that, in 2005, a "voracious" snakehead fish was found in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park's Meadow Lake. Apparently some people purchase them at pets but later release them into New York waterways, presumably after one of these suckers chomps off a finger.

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By John Del Signore in Food on April 29, 2011 5:48 PM

Comments [rss]

Fofofofofo

What kinda choad wants one of these for a pet?

Unkle_Bob

So THAT'S where the Shrieking Eels come from...

tsol

Uh-oh- wait until Bloomberg hears about this. The Asian Carp are just doing jobs American Carp won't do! Doesn't the Queens DA know that NY is a sanctuary city where Federal laws are selectively enforced?

canofpeas

Good point; Wu is also likely responsible for a fair number of Chinese coming to the US illegally and performing ridiculous amounts of labor at ridiculously low wage rates, and that news happily renders Bloomberg perennially wet in the panties.

MattyGC

illinois now has asian carp. they're 20 pounds and jump out of the water and will hit you in the head if you're on a boat (i heard the motor vibrations scare them or something). they eat everything. i think there was a plan to turn them into fish sticks for our prisons, but that, of course, would be dehumanising to our poor prison population. guess they're stuck with balogna sandwiches.

justthinkin

Damn, that fish has a bigger mouth than Trump.

cr17

This guy should be killed. He's an environmental terrorist.

yetanotherdamneduselessaccount

Yeah, you're right.

Every single fucking person who does ANYTHING wrong at any time is SOME type of terrorist.

The word now means nothing.

chuzzlewit

these are frickin horrible. they can live out of water and move across land between ponds (wtf). they tear through the indigenous fish population like hyenas in a room full of kittens.
yong wu is a big asshole.