Invasive carp found near Lake Michigan

A fisherman has found a live Asian carp in a Chicago waterway about 9 miles from Lake Michigan, officials said.

The discovery of the invasive fish is fanning fears that the species could reach the Great Lakes, which could be disastrous to the ecosystem and the $7 billion fishing industry there, The Associated Press reported Friday.

The fish, which was 28 inches long and weighed 8 pounds, made it past an electric barrier further upstream on the Calumet River.

{mosads}The barrier is designed to stop the carp, which have infested the Mississippi River, from reaching the Great Lakes through the river and canal system.

While this is the closest a carp known to get to the Great Lakes, officials are not overly concerned about an infestation.

“This is concerning but it’s not a three-alarm fire right now and we don’t expect it to be,” Charlie Wooley, Midwest deputy regional director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, told the AP.

Nonetheless, lawmakers in Congress sounded alarm bells Friday and renewed their calls for the Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the canal infrastructure, to release a report it has compiled on options for further actions the government could take to stop carp from reaching the lakes.

“This news is deeply troubling and the threat of Asian carp has long been a concern of this Task Force and experts across the Great Lakes,” the House Great Lakes Task Force, a bipartisan group of seven House members, said in a statement.

“This is further evidence that action must be taken to protect our Great Lakes from this grievous threat.”