bighead carp

Permanent barrier against the invasive species of fish, will not be constructed in the Chicago area.

Governor Ted Strickland is getting about half of what he pleaded the White House to do in a July 8th letter about the Asian Carp problem. As you know, the Asian carp are entering into Lake Michigan, and if not stopped, it could become a colossal problem!

“They are going to be naming a carp commander,” explained the legislative liaison for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Trish Lanahan. “It’s important to have someone in an executive-level position at the White House.”

Time is quickly running out, giving the upper hand to the devastating pair of invading fish known as Asian Carp. These two fish are more commonly known as the bighead carp and the silver carp, and have already taken over many areas of the Mississippi River drainage after craftily escaping their fish farms a few decades ago.

Something obviously needs to be done.. However the jury is still out as to what. Something which definitely is not being considered as a viable solution, despite the opinions of Ohio executives, is building a permanent barrier at Chicago, beginning no later than the 19th of August.

Ohio, in conjunction with other great lake States, got a lawsuit on the roll Monday, which is aimed at forcing the government along with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to close off the canal without any further deliberation.

On Thursday, all the big players got together to announce their plans to sit down to analyze economic and environmentally friendly solutions to effectively separate the Mississippi basin from the Great Lakes at Chicago.

Neither species of the carp is though to have gotten a stronghold in Lake Michigan. If they did have a stronghold there, that would render any sort of barrier useless. If they do get themselves a stronghold, it could take a few years before the invading carp can get themselves set up in Lake Erie.

The major concern is that the carp, as with other invasive species, could spread like wildfire through ship bilge and ballast water. The dumping of ballast is not really monitored properly, and certainly not enforced.

However, Chicago isn’t the only one to show concern.

The Silver carp have been slowly creeping their way up the Wabash River in Indiana. There is a bit of wetland that separates the headwaters of the Wabash and the Maumee rivers in Indiana. Biologists from both Indiana and Ohio are examining whether or not if the flooding which occurs there, might just give the carp a chance to jump into the Lake Erie basin.

“I don’t think it’s the threat’s immediate, like Chicago,” the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s program administrator for Lake Erie, Roger Knight said. “It might be another avenue they can use to get in.”

Well if that is the attitude taken by all sides.. That the “threat is not imminent” then it will be too little too late to help get rid of this problem.. One can hope a plan of action is formulated quickly.

Bighead carp

The latest plan of action for getting rid of the Asian Carp (a very invasive species that could potentially throw the entire Great Lakes Ecosystem out of whack), comes from Governor Pat Quinn.

Illinois is going to be entering into a special deal with a Chinese meat processing company, known as Beijing Zhuochen Animal Husbandry Company and also with Big River Fisheries located in Pearl, Illinois, to remove 30 million pounds of this horrendous fish from Illinois rivers. Big River is in charge of processing, packaging and shipping the carp to Zhuochen, who will then resell it in international markets, where Asian Carp are considered quite a tasty dish. It is hoped that the company will be able to reel in at least 30 million pounds by the end of 2011.

“We believe the people of China who like to eat Asian carp will find this is the best anywhere on Earth,” Quinn boldly told the press earlier.

The environmentalists, who have been pulling their hair out since June when a Bighead Asian Carp was reeled in in Lake Calumet, were not at all impressed by the idea. They say that it is at best a way to buy time, and at worst a tactic which will kill the fishing industry.

“Many communities have been robbed of their ability to use and fish on the Illinois River by the slow response to limit the Asian carp’s infestation,” explains Henry Henderson, the Natural Resources Defense Council Midwest Director, “Governor Quinn’s announcement will be welcome news for people in places like Peoria, where it might help them get their river back. But our goal for the Illinois River should be to eradicate this dangerous invasive species, not manage a fishery.”

Concerns are wildly mounting over the presence of Asian carp near Lake Michigan, United States Senator Dick Durbin has bequeathed Obama to elect a Carp Czar, to oversee the efforts to help keep these Asian invaders out of the Great Lakes.

During a news conference at the Shedd Aquarium, Durbin implored.. “We need to have one person who coordinates the efforts of the federal, state and local agencies that are doing everything they can to keep the Asian carp out of Lake Michigan, We believe it’s absolutely essential.”

This was Durbin’s response relating to the amazing discovery of a bighead carp, which is predominantly found in Asia, during the routine sweeps this week at Lake Calumet. The reason this discovery was so alarming is that Lake Calumet is only a stone’s throw away from Lake Michigan.

Durbin is sticking to his guns, lobbying with environmental advocates who have proposed closing Chicago area locks as a way to prevent this carp from getting itself into Lake Michigan. Durbin has called the occurrence “game changing” and has been quoted as saying “we have to take it very seriously.”

Durbin has said that scientists will attempt to find out just exactly where these Asiatic invaders have come from, whether they were dumped into the system, or if it swam its way up the Chicago water system. This will be critical in determining just how many of these Asian carp are making there home in the waters depths.

The invasive Asian carps seem to have bypassed the electric barrier built to protect the North American Great Lakes from potential ecological disaster.

Bighead and Silver carp DNA has been found in the Calumet River, Des Plaines River and at the confluence of the Calumet Sag Channel and the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, federal and state officials announced Friday.

U.S. authorities regularly test for Asian carp DNA in suspended particles floating in river currents in this region, and positive test results have now appeared less than seven miles from Lake Michigan.

The carps are believed to have jumped over the electrical barrier commonly referred to as the “last line of defense” for the Great Lakes.

Authorities are now trying to locate the carps and catch them.

Why are the Asian carps such unwelcomed visitors?

The Asian carps wreck havoc with the native ecosystem by outcompeting local species for food.

They were deliberately brought to North America by catfish farmers to keep farm ponds clean, but managed to escape into the wild during a series of powerful flooding incidents in the 1990s. Since then, they have gradually expanded their range up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

A video about the problem Asian carp causes.

part 1

part2