PR: Canada to spend $17.5 million to battle Asian carp
Canada plans to spend 17-and-a-half million dollars in the next five years to help keep the invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
Fisheries-and-Oceans' Minister Keith Ashfield said yesterday that Canada is working with U.S. experts on an early warning system. It would alert officials quickly if the bloated carp is found in the Great Lakes. Ashfield says Canada also plans to educate people about the dangers the Asian carp can cause, and how to keep them out of Canadian waters. The U.S. government has spent over $100-million-dollars on efforts to protect the Great Lakes from silver and big-head carp. They were imported from Asia a number of years ago to help clean fish farms – but they escaped during floods and migrated north. And the carp has gobbled up large amounts of food-and-plants that native fish rely on.
Wisconsin officials are among those who fear that the invasive Asian carp could ruin the ecosystem if it takes hold in the Great Lakes. They say it could ruin the Great Lakes’ multi-billion-dollar commercial fishing industry.