Trucking company, driver fined $75k for importing live Asian carp into Ontario

WINDSOR, Ont. – An Edmonton trucking company and a Markham, Ont., truck driver have been fined a total of $75,000 in a Windsor, Ont., court for possessing live Asian carp in Ontario.

Alltheway Trucking Inc. and Yong-Sheng Zhang were each found guilty under the federal Fisheries Act for possessing live invasive fish.

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The company was fined $70,000, the truck driver was fined $5,000, and more than 3,000 kilograms of grass carp was forfeited to the Crown.

Court heard a truck entered Canada on Jan. 25, 2012, at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor carrying grass and bighead carp from Arkansas.

Canada Border Services Agency contacted the Ministry of Natural Resources and all of the fish were seized after some were found to be alive.

It has been illegal to possess live invasive fish, including bighead, grass, black and silver carp, in Ontario since 2005 because of the threat they pose to the province’s lake systems.