The federal government seems primarily concerned about keeping Asian carp out of the Great Lakes, while some Indiana waterways already have enough to threaten native fish, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said in a letter to the federal government’s Asian carp director.

He asked what steps are being taken to control the spread of the invasive fish species in the state –and the entire Mississippi River basin – in Friday’s letter to John Goss.

“While I am firmly convinced that we must prevent the carp from forming self-sustaining populations in the Great Lakes, I also have a serious concern with the current risks already present in Indiana’s rivers and streams,” Zoeller said in the letter.

“The waterways of Indiana, especially the lower Wabash River, already harbor self-sustaining populations of Asian carp that currently pose risks to the native fish populations and the surrounding environment that we all seek to avoid in the Great Lakes,” he wrote.

Zoeller expressed concern about the potential costs to Indiana taxpayers of controlling the carp.

Federal and state governments have electric barriers in the Chicago Area Waterways System to block the carps’ progress into Lake Michigan, and a temporary 1,500-foot chain-link fence was installed across Eagle Marsh in Fort Wayne to prevent the invasive fish from spreading through the Maumee River into Lake Erie.