Company fined for trying to ship Asian carp to Ontario

PERU, Ind. - An Indiana company has been fined $20,000 after trying to haul a load of live Asian carp into Canada.

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources says the owner of Sweetwater Springs Fish Farm of Peru, Ind., pleaded guilty Monday to possessing live invasive fish.

The company forfeited over 6,000 pounds of bighead carp.

They were found in the company's truck during an inspection at the Blue Water Bridge in Point Edward, Ont.

Sweetwater Springs is the second importer within a week to be fined for attempting to bring Asian carp into the province, where they are prohibited.

Authorities are trying to prevent Asian carp from becoming established in the Great Lakes. Scientists say the large, hungry fish could starve out native species and endanger the $7 billion fishing industry.

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  A bighead carp, a species of the Asian carp, swims in a new exhibit that highlights plants and animals that eat or compete with Great Lakes native species, at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2006. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)