November 14, 2012 — As if the threat of Asian clams taking over Lake George isn't enough, state and federal officials on Wednesday said they had settled a criminal case against a Canadian who was trying to smuggle invasive snakehead fish across the border into New York.
The predatory, air-breathing fish were about to be sold to an undercover agent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It's illegal to bring snakehead species into the country.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that the case's prime suspect, Canadian pet dealer Muk Leung "Jim" Ip of Scarborough, Ontario, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of illegal commercialization of fish, shellfish, crustaceans and wildlife.
That resolved a complaint in which the 49-year-old was charged with selling the snakeheads, as well as endangered and protected Asian arowana fish and the Mexican axolotl, a protected amphibian.
Ip faces a sentence of 60 days jail to be served in Canada and more than $15,000 in fines.
The plea comes as state officials in Lake George are considering the implementation of mandatory boat inspections to guard against other invasive species, including Asian clams, which have gained a foothold in the lake and are threatening water quality by causing algae blooms.
The clams and pests such as zebra mussels are believed to end up in lakes by accident, transported in the bilge or even bait buckets of boats that have been in other waterways where the creatures are more common. But the snakeheads were purposefully sold, Schneiderman's office said, and were going to be shipped via UPS — possibly to fish dealers.
Read the full story at the Albany Times-Union