Invasive carp threatens Great Lakes
chatnoir
headline:
Invasive carp threatens Great Lakes
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
Fish and wildlife officials will poison a 6-mile stretch of water near
Chicago on Wednesday in a last-ditch effort to keep one of the most
dangerous invasive species of fish, the Asian carp, out of the Great
Lakes.
The Asian carp, a voracious eater that has no predators and negligible
worth as a commercial or sport fish, now dominates the Mississippi and
Illinois rivers and their tributaries.
The fish has entered the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal — a man-made
link between the Mississippi River system and the Great Lakes — and is
knocking on the door of Lake Michigan. Once inside a Great Lake, the
carp would have free rein in the world's largest freshwater ecosystem,
imperiling the native fish of the lakes and a $7 billion fishing and
recreation industry.
"We've got a chance to beat this thing, but we've got to do everything
right," says Joel Brammeier, acting president of the Alliance for the
Great Lakes, a conservation group.
The poisoning will kill an estimated 100 tons of fish, which will be
removed by crane and hauled to a landfill. The five-day fish kill will
provide time for the Army Corps of Engineers to perform routine
maintenance on an electrical barrier that has been placed in the canal
to block Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan.
No Asian carp have been found on the Great Lakes' side of the
electrical barrier. However, recent DNA samples taken from water
indicate the carp may have gotten past the barrier. ... (cont)