State officials get Asian carp report

An update on the latest science news came when the Ohio Lake Erie Commission met Wednesday at NASA Plum Brook.Presenters included Jeff Tyson, Lake Erie fisheries management program administrator for the Ohio Division of Wildlife, and Patrick Kocovsky, a research fishery biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Lake Erie Biological Station at NASA Plum Brook Station.Top officials in the Kasich administration on the commission, including EPA director Scott Nally and ODNR director James Zehringer, appeared to listen carefully as the two officials offered reports. Both Tyson and Kocovsky have advanced degrees in fisheries science.Kocovsky opened his presentation by clarifying a biological point: The Asian carp is not a species, but a group for four separate species of fish — the Bighead carp, the Silver carp, the Grass carp and the Black carp.The various carp species have become numerous in the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Government officials are working to keep them out of the Great Lakes, where it's feared they'll crowd out other fish.