ERIE, MI (Toledo News Now) - Employees at the Blair Fish Company in Erie, MI worry Asian carp is on the way to Lake Erie. If the fish do arrive, it could wipe out their business.
Their fish are netted in Lake Erie, brought to a warehouse, and shipped to markets and restaurants in Detroit and New York City.
The concern is that Asian carp will eat and destroy the lake's habitat.
"Where the fish are spawning and laying their eggs and reproducing. It could affect us negatively. That way our fish that we catch cannot reproduce," says Nathan Newsome, of Blair Fish Company.
It was recently announced that genetic material from the Asian carp has been discovered in year-old Lake Erie water samples. The DNA could come from other sources, such as feces from fish eating birds.
But some biologists say the Asian carp is already here. Something Newsome is not quite ready to accept.
"I kind of think if they were here that someone would have caught them because there's commercial fishermen from here, Lake Erie, all the way down to New York and Canada. I think one would have been caught," said Newsome.
But not one has. Horror stories are being told about the damage that can be done.
"We know a lot of fishermen out West that deal with this already and know how bad they can be. Just a matter of time before they get in our lake," said Newsome.
Meanwhile, biologists say the situation is not officially lost, but the Asian carp alarm bell has been sounded.
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