DNR’s top sturgeon biologist resigns after caviar investigation
CHILTON – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ top sturgeon biologist resigned Thursday, the same day he was found guilty in Calumet County of obstructing a conservation warden during an investigation into the illegal bartering of sturgeon eggs for caviar.
Ryan Koenigs pleaded no contest to the charge and was fined $500, according to court records.
DNR spokesperson Sarah Hoye said he resigned from the agency Thursday morning.
Koenigs also was convicted last month in Winnebago County of resisting a conservation warden and fined $50, according to court records.
Koenigs was accused of taking sturgeon eggs from a state research lab with a former DNR biologist after working hours and having them made into more than $100,000 worth of caviar for friends, processors and DNR employees, according to a criminal complaint filed in Winnebago County.
Scott Ceman, an attorney for Koenigs, did not comment on the conviction or resignation.
Hoye said the DNR placed Koenigs on administrative leave Feb. 11 following an internal investigation, and the agency won’t comment further on personnel matters.
Koenigs served as the DNR’s top sturgeon biologist since 2012 and led the agency’s spearing-season management, during which he oversaw about 60 DNR workers who staff registration stations.
The information was uncovered during a DNR and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation from 2017 to 2020. Days before the 2021 sturgeon spearing season opened, Koenigs was charged in Calumet County with obstructing a game warden.
Criminal complaints describe a network of state wildlife managers, outdoors enthusiasts and caviar processors trading and sharing sturgeon eggs for caviar at official tagging stations, DNR offices, private homes and at least one restaurant and bar.
The investigation found, in some cases, sturgeon eggs that were taken for research — and considered state property — were funneled by DNR staff to processors to make caviar for themselves, other employees and friends.
In 2018, undercover wardens interviewed an informant who told them that the DNR fisheries staff wasn’t following the law and pressuring spearers to give up their sturgeon eggs.
On Jan. 27, 2020, investigators interviewed Koenigs, who explained that registration workers collect eggs to estimate how many are produced, for population modeling. If the spearer wants the eggs, the DNR won’t collect them or the agency will return them after the study, according to the criminal complaint.
Investigators asked Koenigs why workers were collecting eggs in a cooler marked for a caviar processor at one of the registration stations. Koenigs said he didn’t know the processor and denied knowing about an arrangement.
He also said he never called the processor, but when investigators showed him phone records, Koenigs said he didn’t know why he made the calls, but it wasn’t about sturgeon eggs.
On June 17, 2020, investigators seized Koenigs’ iPhone, but there was no data before April 30, 2020, despite it being issued in January 2019. Investigators determined a factory reset was done after Koenigs was interviewed for the investigation.
Prosecutors in Fond du Lac County charged three other people in connection with the investigation, including caviar processors Victor Schneider, 88, and Mary Schneider, 87, of Fond du Lac, and Shawn Wendt, 51, of Oakfield. All three were accused of accepting caviar as payment for processing sturgeon eggs.
On Feb. 26, the Schneiders reached a plea deal with the Fond du Lac County District Attorney’s Office that would keep them out of jail.
Several current and retired DNR officials and caviar processors connected to the operation are named in the complaints. They haven’t been charged with a crime, but authorities said accepting eggs or finished caviar in exchange for services is considered illegal bartering.
While no DNR employees or processors have been charged with selling caviar, the criminal complaint noted that sturgeon are a target for exploitation in “illegal commercial transactions because of the value of their flesh and caviar.”
Sturgeon eggs are crucial in caviar, which prosecutors say can fetch upward of $100 an ounce.