Report: Asia carp still a threat to Lake Erie

SANDUSKY — Asian carp remain an important threat to Great Lakes fisheries, especially Lake Erie, according to a new report from Great Lakes Sea Grant programs."There is much uncertainty about the potential Asian carp population abundance in the upper Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron), though Lake Erie may be a very suitable habitat for Asian carp," stated the 56-page report, released by the Great Lakes SeaGrant Network. The report is available for download at greatlakesseagrant.com.The report stated there are actually four kinds of Asian carp: Silver carp, Bighead carp, Grass carp and Black carp.It's the Silver and the Bighead variety that are considered the biggest threat to the Great Lakes. They are the two species moving up the Illinois River toward the Chicago-Area Waterways System."The primary concern is that Asian carp will impact the already stressed Great Lakes food web. Once these fish become established, impacts to native species will likely occur directly through competition for food, or indirectly through changes in the food web. In parts of the Illinois River, Silver and Bighead Carp are now the dominant fish species, making up more than 90 percent of the fish biomass," the report read. "Grass Carp are already present in the Great Lakes watershed, and there is evidence of successful Grass Carp spawning in the Sandusky River, a Lake Erie tributary."Debbie Lee, director of NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and a member of the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee, weighed in."This comprehensive report gives us three pieces of valuable information, which support our fight against Asian carps as a threat to Great Lakes" Lee said."It provides a clear picture of the overall potential impact of an Asian carp invasion of the lakes, it identifies specific gaps in our understanding of that impact, and lastly, it contains a large inventory of outreach and education materials that scientists, managers, and educators can use to communicate the Asian carp threat to the general public."Great Lakes Sea Grant Network is a collaboration of various Great Lakes Sea Grant organizations, including Ohio's. Ohio's Sea Grant program is part of The Ohio State University.Reach reporter Tom Jackson at jackson@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @jacksontom.In this June 13, 2012 file photo, Asian carp, jolted by an electric current from a research boat, jump from the Illinois River near Havana, Ill. (