TPWD: CHEF INVOLVED IN RUGGLES ESTABLISHMENTS INVOLVED IN GIANT ILLEGAL FISH NETWORK, TOO 
Following 2 years of investigation — and the discovery of some 1,900 pounds of illegal red snapper on an unlicensed boat near Freeport — the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department alleged today that Bruce Molzan  (long one of the main players in most of the Ruggles [Blank] establishments around town, most recently Ruggles Black) is tangled up with what may be the largest illegal seafood network ever uncovered in Texas. A press release from the department says the aquatic activities in question, which so far have warranted the handout of some 200 misdemeanor citations, have been going on since 2013. The state’s allegations toward Molzan include the purchase of illegally harvested finfish, as well as illegal shrimp purchases from another restaurant, for inclusion on Ruggles Black’s and Ruggles Green’s implicitly health– and sustainability-minded menus. (Molzan separated from Ruggles Green back in October, after its original W. Alabama location scooted over into the new midrise down the block; the new owners of Ruggles Green say that fish acquisitions since Molzan left have all been by the books.) [TPWD; previously on Swamplot] Photo of Ruggles Green on W. Alabama: Swamplot inbox
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Tag: Fish
THE WOODLANDS SEEKS PERMISSION TO DEPLOY MUTANT FISH TO FIGHT WATERWAY WEEDS 
The Woodlands Development Company has filed a request with the state to add some genetically sterile Asiatic grass carp in the development’s Waterway feature, Catherine Dominguez notes in the Houston Chronicle. The fish are a proposed answer to the bushy pondweed and algae blooms that have recently been clogging up the created channel, which runs from the Lake Woodlands reservoir to the Woodlands Mall alongside I-45. Dominguez writes that the permit request was set in motion by a complaint from Ironman Texas, which at the last minute moved the miles-long water course of its recent Woodlands supertriathlon, citing skepticism that water quality was okay for swimmers. The carp is native to the Amur River that divides northeastern China from Russia; TPWD has issued permits for stocking the fish in Texas since 1992, but only in its deliberately-given-too-many-chromosomes-to-reproduce triploid form. The TPWD’s grass carp permit writeup includes advice on fish deployment, reasonable fish performance expectations, and info on how to prevent fish escape. [Houston Chronicle] Photo of Woodlands Waterway: TheWoodlandsTX.com
