Stabenow Statement on News That Live Silver Carp Discovered Nine Miles from Lake Michigan

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Co-Chair of the Great Lakes Task Force, released a statement on news that an eight-pound adult Silver carp was captured yesterday morning only nine miles from Lake Michigan:

“Today’s news is a wakeup call.  It is deeply alarming that a live Silver carp was found only nine miles from Lake Michigan.  While I’m glad the emergency protocols I helped create through legislation in 2015 played a role in this detection, the fact remains that we need a permanent solution at Brandon Road.  We need to know how the Silver carp came so close to Lake Michigan and whether there are any additional carp in the area.” 

The eight-pound Silver carp was found by a commercial fishing vessel whose activities to combat Asian carp are funded by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI).  GLRI funding is also providing resources for emergency monitoring and response actions that will be taken over the next two weeks by the Fish and Wildlife Service, Army Corps of Engineers, and the State of Illinois to detect and stop any additional Silver carp in these waters near Lake Michigan.

Just this week, Senator Stabenow and Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced legislation, the Stop Asian Carp Now Act, which would require the Army Corps to release the Brandon Road study within seven days of the bill’s enactment.  The Brandon Road study would detail a structural solution to stopping Asian carp at a critical chokepoint in the Illinois River.  The study has already been delayed by the Trump Administration from its expected release in February of this year. 

Senator Stabenow worked with other Great Lakes appropriators to secure language in the Fiscal Year 2016 omnibus that required the Army Corps to establish formal emergency procedures – including rapid response protocols and monitoring – to prevent Asian Carp from reaching Lake Michigan.