FORT FRANCES, Ont. -- An American fisherman has paid a steep price for his bait.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry reports that a resident of Wisconsin was fined $1500 in a Fort Frances court for illegally transporting live leeches into Ontario.
Court was told that Canada Border Services Agency officers at Fort Frances conducted a secondary inspection of the man's vehicle after he crossed the border in June, 2017.
In a cooler, the officers found two containers that were marked "worms" which actually contained two dozen live leeches.
The CBSA officers then notified MNRF conservation officers, who learned that the traveller was en route to a fly-in fishing trip north of Fort Frances.
Ontario regulations prohibit importing live organisms that may threaten aquatic ecosystems by introducing invasive species, and transmitting pathogens such as parasites, viruses and bacteria not native to the province.
