U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., today urged a Senate panel to take action against the threat of Asian carp, specifically Bighead carp, entering the Great Lakes by passing a bill he introduced earlier this year. Levin, the co-chair of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, asked the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife to pass the bipartisan Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act, which Levin introduced in July.

“Asian carp would most likely devastate the Great Lakes fishery,” Levin said. His bill would list the Bighead carp on the list of injurious species under the Lacey Act. “It’s important to Michigan, the other Great Lakes states, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario to prevent these fish from entering the Great Lakes and destroying the native fishery.”

If the Asian carp spread into the Great Lakes, they stand to dramatically change the fishery make-up of the Great Lakes. They can grow to more than four feet and weigh 85 pounds, and reproduce quickly.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has already listed other species of Asian carp under the Lacey Act but did not list the Bighead carp. However the U.S. Geological Survey concluded in 2005 that the Bighead carp are a “high” and “unacceptable” risk, calling them a “major concern for the United States.”

The bill, S. 1421, is co-sponsored by Sens. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, Richard Durbin, D-Ill., Russell Feingold, D-Wis., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Robert Casey, D-Pa.

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• Rep. Dave Camp’s Asian Carp Bill Needs Cosponsors