WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) released the following statement after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that Asian carp environmental DNA has been detected in Lake Erie in samples taken between July 31 and August 4:
“This environmental DNA is the latest evidence that Asian carp are closer to threatening the health of Lake Erie and the 1.2 million jobs it supports in Northwestern Pennsylvania. This should be a call to action for the Administration to quickly implement a plan to prevent the fish from invading the Great Lakes, and for Congress to pass legislation I’ve proposed to protect the lakes and the local economies that depend on them.”
Senator Casey has pushed for a law to require the speedy creation of an action plan to block Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes through a number of rivers and tributaries, and has pushed the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency to crack down on the smuggling of live Asian carp into Canada from the United States.
Senator Casey also recently cosponsored the Great Lakes Ecosystem Protection Act to address the most significant challenges in the Great Lakes ecosystem, including invasive species like Asian carp.
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