Columnist Susan Snyder: On Monday, the View’s still clear

Monday, Jan. 6, 2003 | 8:29 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Mondays, Fridays, Sundays and Tuesdays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4082.

Don't freak. You didn't oversleep and awake Tuesday.

Valley Views has spread like kudzu.

Beginning today, on Mondays we'll explore life in the other Nevada -- the parts many of us never visit. You know you're guilty. I know a woman who lived in Las Vegas 35 years before visiting Pahrump. And those who live outside the Las Vegas Valley have about as much use for us.

Last spring, Mina resident Bob Eddy said he hadn't been to Las Vegas in about eight years. Eddy owns Desert Lobster, which sits on the west side of U.S. Highway 95 about 275 miles north of Las Vegas.

He showed me around the "ranch" where he raises Australian crayfish in pools fed by hot springs. He sells them to passing travelers. They look and taste like lobsters.

But Nevada Division of Wildlife officers say such sales are illegal, and they're putting the pinch on Eddy's 7-year-old business.

A Nevada attorney general's complaint filed in 2nd Judicial District Court in September says Eddy has ignored repeated state Division of Wildlife requests to stop selling live crayfish to people not licensed to receive them. As a result, Eddy's lobster license was not renewed.

That stuck in Eddy's craw. He has filed a counter-suit in Mineral County's 5th Judicial District Court and accuses state officials of violating his "constitutional and inalienable rights" to raise a species that is not prohibited in Nevada. The crustacean controversy is trapped in debate over which district will hear the case.

Meanwhile, Eddy continues to sell his desert lobsters. Even if he stopped, he says people can order live ones from a number of aqua farmers in surrounding states or have them shipped directly from Australia without any licensing. That's how he got his.

"This is a stupid thing. After all these years they want to regulate me," Eddy said. "They're discriminating against me, but they can't stop these other guys in other states from doing it."

Mike Sevon, a supervising fisheries biologist for the wildlife agency, said he's not being a crab or trying to destroy a popular roadside attraction.

"We knew this would be a can of worms when we opened it up," he said.

Sevon is concerned the crayfish will destroy native fish populations if someone drops them into a lake rather than a pot of boiling water.

The state has no record of Australian crayfish threatening native fish, he said. But problems that plague the fragile, desert varieties typically start with non-native strangers dumped into their habitats.

"And here you have a guy selling these on a highway like he's got an apple stand," the biologist said.

Eddy's not the produce type. He used to raise cattle but said federal grazing rules and regulations made it too complicated. Australian crayfish have no such federal hoops, but instead swim in state rules, he said.

Eddy plans to open a Mina restaurant where he will sell cooked lobsters. Whether they will be farm-fresh or bought elsewhere remains to be seen. If forced to stop, Eddy says he'll drain the ponds. It's the only way to dispose of the more than 500,000 crayfish he has at any one time.

"Or he could freeze them and give them to family and friends for Christmas next year," Sevon said.

And you think Las Vegas is odd. Just wait.