Asian Carp Found 6 Miles From Lake Michigan

Officials say an Asian carp has been found for the first time beyond the electric barriers constructed to keep the dreaded invasive species out of the Great Lakes.
  
State and federal officials said Wednesday that commercial fishermen found the 3-foot-long, 20-pound carp in Lake Calumet on Chicago's South Side, about six miles downstream of Lake Michigan.
  
The single carp is the first to be found in a Chicago waterway above the Army Corps of Engineers' electric barrier system.
 
Officials say they'll use electrofishing and netting to remove any carp from the lake, but Michigan Congresswoman Candice Miller wants the Chicago-area locks closed down immediately.

"Today, our worst fears have been confirmed and now a live, 20 pound Bighead Asian carp has been found to have breached the electronic barriers and is now heading toward Lake Michigan and threatening the Great Lakes," said Miller in a statement.  "This is extremely distressing, especially since the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the case made by six of the eight Great Lakes Basin attorney generals and their Canadian counterparts.  It is also incredibly distressing to find out that the United States Army Corps of Engineers have no intention of closing the locks." 

Scientists and fishermen fear that they if the carp become established in the Great Lakes, they could starve out popular sport fish such as salmon and walleye.  They can grow to 100 pounds and four feet.
 
Michigan Attorney General and Republican candidate for governor, Mike Cox, said President Obama must take
action immediately by ordering the locks closed and "producing an emergency plan to stop Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan."

Cox said that his office is in the process of considering new legal action. 
 

© MMX WWJ Radio, All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.