Feds Plan $78.5 Million Push to Keep Dangerous Carp Out of Great Lakes

"CHICAGO — Federal authorities on Monday presented a $78.5 million plan intended to block Asian carp, a hungry, huge, nonnative fish, from invading the Great Lakes.

The threat has grown increasingly tense throughout the region in recent months as genetic material from the fish was found near and even in Lake Michigan.

In a meeting in Washington with leaders of some Great Lakes states, officials from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies laid out an “Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework” to ensure that the fish, known to take over entire ecosystems, do not establish themselves in the lakes.

The state officials said they appreciated that the federal government was stepping in, but at least one said the plan did not go far enough."

Monica Davey reports for the New York Times February 9, 2010.