Posted: Jan 23, 2014 03:28 PM | Last Updated: Jan 23, 2014 03:57 PM
EDMONTON, AB — An Edmonton trucking company and a truck driver from Markham, ON, got some hefty fines last week after being caught hauling invasive, banned carp into Ontario.
On Jan. 25, 2012, a truck carrying grass carp and bighead carp from Arkansas entered Canada via the Ambassador Bridge at the Windsor-Detroit border.
At the time, the Canada Border Services Agency contacted the Ministry of Natural Resources to assist with the inspection of the truck and seized all of the fish after they discovered that some of the grass carp were still alive, according to a report from the Toronto Star.
It’s been illegal to possess live invasive fish such as bighead, grass, black and silver carp in Ontario since 2005. All four types of fish, known as Asian carp, threaten Ontario’s lake system because they reproduce rapidly and replace native species of fish.
But only a month after the Jan. 25 incident, the same truck and driver again entered Canada at the Ambassador bridge, this time carrying 6,350 kgs of bighead carp, some of which were still alive. Officers held the truck until all the fish were dead.
Alltheway Trucking Inc. and Yong-Sheng Zhang were each found guilty last week under the federal Fisheries Act for possessing live invasive fish. The company has been fined $70,000 while Zhang was fined $5,000.
Here’s an entertaining video of one Asian carp species, silver carp, which jumps when scared by boat vibrations.
