Asian Carp breach the Great Lakes

[cathryn]

Alien Invasion: Asian Carp Breach Great Lakes Barrier

Lisa Holewa
Contributor

AOL News (June 24) -- They can grow to 4 feet and 100 pounds and eat 40 percent of their body weight daily. They have knocked jet skiers unconscious. Scientists have been warning of their invasion for years.

And now an Asian carp was found this week for the first time beyond the electric barriers meant to keep the invasive species out of the Great Lakes. Scientists fear that the carp will become established in the Great Lakes, starving out sports fish and killing the region's $7 billion fishing industry.

"This is simply another sort of fishy, slimy reminder that a permanent solution needs to be right around the corner, not five or 10 years away," Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, told AOL News today.


"This finding is extraordinarily disturbing. The bottom line is: It makes it even more urgent for us to build a permanent solution."

The bighead Asian carp caught live on Wednesday was discovered by commercial fishermen in a waterway about six miles from Lake Michigan. It was about 3 feet long and weighed just under 20 pounds, according to a news release from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

"We set out on a fact-finding mission, and we have found what we were looking for," said John Rogner, assistant director of the Illinois DNR. "This is important evidence, and the more information we have about where Asian carp are, the better chance we have of keeping them out of the Great Lakes."

Like most invasive species, the Asian carp was introduced with the hope of doing good. Originally introduced to clean catfish ponds and in experiments to filter sewage, the creatures eventually escaped during floods in the 1990s and headed into adjoining rivers. Eventually, they reached the tributaries of the Mississippi River system, which includes the Missouri River, the Ohio River and the Illinois River.

There, they have wreaked havoc for years, destroying commercial fishing and damaging recreational water activities. Early last summer, a 22-year-old jet skier in the Illinois River had to be rescued by firefighters when he ran into a leaping fish that knocked him from his machine. In 2004, a woman nearly died after being knocked unconscious by a leaping fish while on her Jet Ski near Peoria.

The carp might not have posed any danger to the Great Lakes, as nothing naturally connects the Mississippi River basin to the Great Lakes. But back in the late 1800s, engineers designed a network of canals and rivers to reverse the flow of the Chicago River in order to keep waste from flowing into Lake Michigan.

Environmental groups have been pushing to close the locks that connect the Mississippi to the Great Lakes.

"This is not something that can happen overnight, but we can get started," Brammeier said.

However, a Chicago-based industry coalition called Unlock Our Jobs said the discovery of a single carp can't justify closing the locks -- which spokesman Mark Biel said could damage the region's economy and kill jobs without guaranteeing that carp would be unable to reach the lakes.

"A few isolated incidents of Asian carp in this small section of the Illinois Waterway does not mean existing barriers have failed," Biel said in a statement. "While this is sure to result in renewed calls for permanent closure, such drastic action is simply unwarranted given the effectiveness of the electric barriers and the facts on the ground."

For now, the Army Corps of Engineers is relying on two electric barriers to hold the carp back. These emit pulses to discourage the fish and shock them with an electrical jolt if they attempt to swim through

Brammeier noted that among the biggest concerns of damage to the Great Lakes is the fact that Asian carp love to live in tributaries and near shore areas -- along coasts and riverways.

"These are some of the places in the Great Lakes that are most loved by the people who live here and visit here. Places like Green Bay and western Lake Erie are most susceptible to being overrun," he said.

"They love the same things the people love. ... Now is the time to do something."

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/invasive-asian-carp-reach-great-lakes/19529829