Carp Suit Goes International

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jan 4, 2010 6:40PM

Earlier today, we mentioned Indiana and New York were joining the other Great Lake states - Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin - in Michigan's fight before the SCOTUS to close down the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to prevent the spread of Asian Carp. What we initially missed was the fact that while we were nursing our New Years hangovers, the fight went international as the Canadian province of Ontario - the only province that borders the Great Lakes - joined the suit as well. Mary Gazze reports for CTV:

"Because we're not Americans, we can file a motion in support and that's what we've done. We're saying we can support their motion because we can also prove detrimental effects," [Ontario Natural Resources Minister Donna] Cansfield said...

Cansfield said an Asian carp invasion would be especially detrimental to the fishing industry on Ontario's Lake Erie shore, which is home to one of the world's largest freshwater commercial perch and bass fisheries.

"The fisheries would be impacted, sports fishing, tourism, as well as commercial fishing. It's a huge impact in terms of the billions of dollars for Ontario," she said, explaining sport fishing alone brings in about $1 billion to the province.