The blue area in this map shows rivers, tributaries and watersheds at risk from Asian carp should they establish themselves in the Great Lakes. (Fisheries and Oceans Canada)

A dreaded aquatic bully has Canadian and U.S. scientists banding together to thwart what's been called the greatest threat to the Great Lakes — the Asian carp.

Fisheries Minister Gail Shea announced $415,000 in funding Tuesday in Toronto for an 18-month, bi-national program that will assess the risks the carp pose. The study will also aim to figure out how to shut down pathways the fish — currently being held at bay near Chicago — could use to enter the Great Lakes.

"The results will provide essential information for decision makers regarding monitoring, rapid response and management," Shea said at the announcement.

Canadian Fisheries and Oceans research adviser Becky Cudmore recently took a trip to get a look at the invasive fish species, best known for leaping nearly two metres out of the water near passing boats.

"Hundreds of fish were just leaping out of the water," Cudmore said.

The large fish, some longer than a metre and weighing up to 50 kilograms, are a serious threat to boaters, who have reported injuries ranging from serious bruises to broken jaws.

"When you are in a moving boat, and they are leaping, and it hits you … you feel it," said Cudmore.

In the U.S., the carp are wreaking havoc on the ecosystem by decreasing biodiversity and decimating fisheries.

Introduced to North America in the 1970s to stop the spread of algae, the silver and bighead species of Asian carp escaped from southern U.S. fish farms in the 1990s during flooding.

They have infested parts of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, wiping out other fish populations.

"They are ferocious feeders," said Robert Lambe, chairman of the Great Lakes Fishing Commission.

"They tend to wipe out the lower food chain, so other fish tend not to survive."

Adam Godfrey, who runs a sport fishing charter business from the Canadian side of Lake Erie, said Asian carp could easily "destroy" his business and the entire area's fishing industry, worth an estimated $7 billion a year.

"It's really a complete disaster in terms of the charter fishing industry," Godfrey said.

Scientists, states sound alarms against carp

Officials on both sides of the border have been sounding the alarm for several years about the carp, but Canadian worries spiked when one was found downstream from an electrified barrier near Chicago in June — just kilometres from the Great Lakes.

Scientists said they will continue to research possible points of entry for the Asian carp.

"The Great Lakes is our home," said research scientist Nick Mandrak. "We need to know not only where our doors are but where our windows are."

The research will also examine the food supply in the waters to see if the carp would survive if they entered the Great Lakes, and it will chart the time in which the invasion could occur.

The researchers also hope to find what rivers the carp could spawn in and try to predict population size.

Two electrical barriers are currently in place near Chicago-area waterways to prevent two-way movement of invasive fish species between the two basins, the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes.

Several U.S. states are involved in a lawsuit in an effort to close locks to stop the fish.

Michigan's assistant attorney general has said the threat is so imminent that the waterways leading into Lake Michigan have become a "carp highway."

But on Tuesday, Shea said Canada would not get involved in the legal fight in the U.S.

"This legal battle could have tied us up as a country and stopped us from moving forward on his issue," she said.

With files from The Canadian Press