A recent discovery by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that invasive Asian carp may have bypassed an electric barrier intended to keep them out of the Great Lakes is cause for a "sense of urgency and emergency" according to some Oakland County residents.

The large fish, which can reach a body weight of 100 pounds, eats plankton, the tiny creatures that are the foundation of the food chain in the lakes.

"They would have a similar ecological impact as the zebra mussel," said Dan Keifer of the Clinton River watershed Council in Rochester.  "They would impact the bottom of the food base and therefor the food chain for sport fishermen."

Sport-fishing is big business on the Great Lakes and in Michigan.  According to Keifer, it is estimated that the sport brings in $4.5 billion on the big lakes alone, $7 billion in the entire Great Lakes watershed.

Click below to see and read the original article: