WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration Wednesday appointed an environmental official from Indiana to coordinate federal efforts to try to prevent the destructive Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.

John Goss, executive director of the Indiana Wildlife Federation and former head of the state's Department of Natural Resources, will become Asian carp director, said Nancy H. Sutley, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Federal, state and local agencies have been working to prevent the silver carp and bighead carp from entering the lakes, where it is feared that they would monopolize the food supply and crowd out other species.

"Now we will have one face, one name, one person to coordinate all of this," said Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., who joined Sutley on a conference call to announce Goss' appointment.

The naming of an Asian carp "czar" had long been a priority of Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and others who have been pushing for a more aggressive government effort to combat a threat that, scientists say, could destroy the $7 billion Great Lakes fishery. "The Obama administration has stepped up to the plate," Gillibrand said. "We need to take aggressive action now to stop the spread of Asian carp in the lakes and establish a long-term solution that will keep New York's waterways and natural habitats free from invasive species."

Goss termed the Asian carp "one of the most serious threats the Great Lakes have ever faced."

He said one of his focuses would be to get the states to work together to prevent the fish from entering the lakes, much as he worked to get Indiana to join other states in the Great Lakes Compact aimed at protecting the ecosystem.

But Goss said he remained undecided on the biggest regional battle regarding the Asian carp: whether the locks in the Chicago waterways should be closed to prevent the fish from migrating into Lake Michigan.

Illinois interests are pushing to keep the locks open to keep commerce flowing, but Stabenow and many environmentalists say that permanently separating the Chicago waterways from the lakes is by far the best way to stop the fish in its tracks.

The Army Corps of Engineers is studying the possibility of permanently separating the Chicago waterways and the lakes, and Goss said he will await the conclusion of that study before deciding whether to push for a closure.

Stabenow stressed, though, that Lake Michigan is not the only pathway that the fish could use to enter the lakes. This summer, an Asian carp was found in the Wabash River in Indiana. That river shares a flood plain with the Maumee, which flows into Lake Erie.

"We know this can now be a threat to Lake Erie," Stabenow said.

jzremski@buffnews.comnull