Asian carp found 12 miles closer to Lake Michigan

WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow on Sunday urged the Obama administration to take “immediate action” to respond to the threat of Asian carp after U.S. Fish and Wildlife said the species has been found 12 miles nearer to Lake Michigan.

“I remain extremely concerned that Asian carp are getting closer and closer to Lake Michigan,” Stabenow, D-Mich., told the Free Press. “Time is running out.”

Nonnative to the Americas, the fish species known collectively as Asian carp are voracious eaters and worries are high that they could decimate habitat and food sources for fish throughout the Great Lakes if they reach Lake Michigan.

Late last week, the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee, a group of federal and state agencies monitoring the spread of the invasive carp, reported that Fish and Wildlife crews detected two small silver carp upstream of Seneca, Ill., in the Illinois River, on Oct. 22. Each of the fish measured about 6 ½ inches in length.

Silver carp are one of the species otherwise known collectively as Asian carp. News of the find, reported on the coordinating committee’s website, noted that the small fish were found approximately 12 miles closer to the lake and that it “brings the leading edge of juvenile Asian carp detections about 66 miles closer to Lake Michigan than it was at the beginning of 2015.”

The committee also noted, however, that carp are still farther than 76 miles from Lake Michigan and that several dams, as well as the Army Corps of Engineers’ electric dispersal barriers, remain between the leading edge of the carp and the lake.

That hasn’t stopped Stabenow and other members of Michigan’s congressional delegation, including U.S. Rep. Candice Miller, R-Harrison Township, from calling for immediate action, including urging the Obama administration to free up funds to research efforts to block the carp at key chokepoints in the Chicago-area waterways.

Stabenow, Miller and others have also called for years for the Corps to look more seriously at physically separating Lake Michigan from those Chicago-area waterways where carp could spread — a proposal that could cost as much as $18 billion and faces opposition from some business interests in the Midwest.

Meanwhile, concerns have been raised about the Corps’ dispersal barriers, with evidence mounting that some small fish may be essentially carried through the barriers as barges pass, sweeping fish with them.

“I will continue to urge the Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take immediate action to protect the Great Lakes basin from this terrible threat,” said Stabenow.

Contact Todd Spangler: 703-854-8947 or tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler.