Associated Press - January 3, 2010 6:54 PM ET

NEW YORK (AP) - New York's attorney general says he'll join the legal effort to keep Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes because the species could devastate the fishing industry and the environment.

Andrew Cuomo said he'll file a brief in U.S. Supreme Court on Monday supporting Michigan's request to sever a century-old Chicago canal connecting Lake Michigan and the Mississippi water basin.

Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ohio also are supporting the request.

Illinois' attorney general's office is reviewing the suit.

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago has said that closing the canal would not prevent the carp from migrating.

Asian carp can grow to be 100 pounds and can consume massive quantities of plankton, the base of the Great Lakes food chain.

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