MichiganRadio

Asian Carp Hunt Comes Up With Empty Nets ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) -

An intensive month long search for Asian Carp in a canal near Chicago has failed to turn up a single fish.

But concerns persist that the carp could still make its way into the Great Lakes.

Asian Carp have been edging nearer and nearer to Lake Michigan for the past few years. Their DNA has been detected in parts of the lake already, but so far no actual fish.

This past month, professional fishermen helped state and federal wildlife officers troll the waters of the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal. Charlie Wooley is with the federal Fish and Wildlife Service. He says since last month they've been searching near warm water outlets that dump into the canal for signs of the Asian Carp.

"With all the sampling, with all this effort, we have not come up with a single live asian carp," says Wooley.

Wooley says the search for live carp will continue, and move closer to the canal's connection to Lake Michigan.

The carp could threaten the Great Lakes environment and fishing industry if they reach the lakes. The federal government plans to spend 78 million dollars to keep the Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes. But the Obama Administration and the state of Illinois oppose calls to close the canal which is the carp's main avenue to the Great Lakes. © Copyright 2012, Michigan Radio