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Asian carp may have breached electronic barrier
November 20, 2009 17:07 EST

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Federal officials say Asian carp may have breached an electronic barrier designed to prevent the giant invaders from upsetting the ecosystem in the Great Lakes and jeopardizing a $7 billion sport fishery

Maj. Gen. John Peabody of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says scientists recently collected 32 DNA samples of Asian carp between the barrier and Lake Michigan in waterways south of Chicago, although the fish have yet to be spotted in the area.

The carp could reach Lake Michigan and onwards to the Great Lakes where they would compete with native species for food.

Asian carp escaped from Southern fish farms in the 1990s and have been migrating up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. They can exceed 4 feet in length and 100 pounds.