Mounting concern over an invasive species of fish making its way to Minnesota and Wisconsin has prompted a meeting between government and environmental officials from the two states.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton called the summit today with Wisconsin officials to discuss the rising population of Asian carp in Wisconsin and Minnesota waters, said Chris Niskanen, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

The meeting will address joint strategies between the states and coordinate efforts to solve the carp problem before it gets out of control, Niskanen said.

Asian carp have been known to be disruptive to ecosystems and can have a large effect on native plants and animals, including game fish. They are known to be very adaptive to turbid, dirty water, and, unlike the similarly-sized northern pike or walleye, the Asian carp’s diet does not consist of smaller fish.

“Asian carp come at the whole food chain equation differently,” Niskanen said. “They eat microscopic animals, which knocks out a rung in the food chain, ultimately affecting big game fish and other native animals.”

Asian carp have been a larger concern in Illinois, where the population makes up 90 percent of the biomass in most rivers, Niskanen said. There is fear that some carp are now making their way up the Mississippi River and crossing the borders of Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Several rivers, including the Mississippi and St. Croix, are shared between Minnesota and Wisconsin, so a joint effort and cooperation between both of the states’ departments is required to address the problem of the rising Asian carp population.

“We know we’re getting a few individual Asian carp coming up the river, exploring our waters,” Niskanen said. “Last spring we caught a 30-pound bighead carp in St. Croix River right on the border with Wisconsin.”

Efforts to prevent the expansion of Asian carp in Minnesota have focused on research of the current carp population, Niskanen said. DNR officials are searching for signs of the increasing population with extensive DNA testing in the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers.

Niskanen said this informative strategy has confirmed the presence of silver carp, a particular species of Asian carp, in St. Croix. Despite catching a bighead carp in the river last spring, DNA testing showed no positive results for this species of Asian carp.

Minnesota officials conducted nine days of netting and electroshock fishing, but found nothing. He said this does not mean there is an absence of Asian carp, but it does suggest that there may be low numbers in the waters.

The Wisconsin DNR has tried a number of preventative measures to keep the establishment of Asian Carp out of the Upper Mississippi River and Great Lakes areas, according to the website. The DNR is working to restore these areas into diverse ecosystems, as research has shown that healthy ecosystems can better cope with invasive species such as Asian carp.

Recently, Wisconsin banned the sale, transport and possession of several species of carp. Wisconsin has also banned the harvest of bait fish from the Mississippi to prevent the spread of young Asian carp into other waters, as it is often used as bait.