The game may be over: Asian carp beyond electric barriers

Posted: Nov. 21, 2009
If carp get in the lakes, 'it's game over'
Groups call for closing locks, but barge operators balk

BY TINA LAM
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER


Two feared species of Asian carp have zoomed beyond the $9-million electric barriers built to keep them out of Lake Michigan. Now, the only thing left between the carp and the Great Lakes is a lock and dam in southern Chicago.

So far, the fish have managed to swim past nine other locks on their 600-mile, 16-year journey up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to within a few miles of the Great Lakes.

No one knows exactly where the fish are now, but officials said Friday the latest DNA results don't lie: Tests at the end of September and early October showed 32 positive hits for carp DNA in the Calumet Sag Channel of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, even though no actual Asian carp have been found.

That puts the fish miles past the electric barriers and a mile below the O'Brien lock and dam in southern Chicago. Beyond that lock is a 7-mile stretch of open water leading to Lake Michigan.

Sampling of water in that stretch is not complete, but so far shows no carp DNA.

Conservation groups called for an immediate closure of all Illinois gateways and locks leading to Lake Michigan.

"The situation is so drastic, every possible pathway into the lake has got to be blocked, period," said Jeff Skelding of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. "If the carp get in, it's game over."

Barge operators already are upset over a planned closure of the canal for a few days in early December to allow officials to poison all the fish below the electric barriers and do routine maintenance work on one of them. A total shutdown would ground the 18,500 barges that pass through the port of Chicago each year, said Lynn Muench, vice president of the American Waterways Operators.

The barges carry oil, cement, coal, stone and the like, which would have to be off-loaded onto trucks or rail cars to get to their destinations if the locks are closed, adding to air pollution, she said.


http://www.freep.com...s-its-game-over

Did you get that? We should worry more about the air pollution!

Edited by az9, 21 November 2009 - 11:42 AM.

Unfortunately, it sounds like we're just delaying the inevitable now. I don't mean to sound like a cynic but what's stopping a pissed off barge operator from introducing them intentionally? Obviously there are plenty of people that are inconvienanced and aggravated by the efforts to prevent the introduction of asian carp into the Lakes. It just takes a couple of them to make a selfish decision and help the carp out.

This is TERRIBLE news those carp are incredibly bad. The Great lakes are already so compromised that it is terrible to get ANY new invasive. So long for any chance of stopping them.

The lock and dam need to be kept shut indefinitely until the carp are eradicated around it.

I agree some malcontent will collect some carp and dump in the lake.

But they need to poison the channels now.

Edited by Gambusia, 22 November 2009 - 11:47 AM.

Carp creep me right out. It is very very sad to hear both that they have to poison the channe and that the carp are still expanding there borders.

I get the feeling like they're in Lake Michigan already . I read that they discovered carp DNA in the canal before the final lock to Lake Michigan the very first time they tested for it! And the lock opens regularly. If they get in (assuming they aren't in already, it may take years before they reproduce in large enough numbers for biologists to be able to find them in that big lake)then I'm guessing the game IS over. No solution that runs through my head is even feasible... The lake will be full of nothing but grass carp and zebra mussles, let's hope for one reason or another, they're not able to thrive in Lake Michigan.

I get the feeling like they're in Lake Michigan already . I read that they discovered carp DNA in the canal before the final lock to Lake Michigan the very first time they tested for it! And the lock opens regularly. If they get in (assuming they aren't in already, it may take years before they reproduce in large enough numbers for biologists to be able to find them in that big lake)then I'm guessing the game IS over. No solution that runs through my head is even feasible... The lake will be full of nothing but grass carp and zebra mussles, let's hope for one reason or another, they're not able to thrive in Lake Michigan.

Ramiro,

I think these are bighead and silver carp not grass carp, although it wouldn't surprise me if there were diploid grass carp too as they are in the Mississippi River.

FYI,

Posted: Nov. 19, 2009
Website link: http://freep.com/art...-save-the-lakes

This fish kill is necessary to save the lakes

Closing a 5 1/2 -mile stretch of waterway and poisoning it is not something to take lightly. But it's more than justified by efforts to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.

Starting Dec. 2, a multi-agency task force will close off a portion of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal below the two electrical barriers intended to stop the carp from advancing out of the Mississippi basin and into Lake Michigan and the rest of the lakes. While the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers turns off the newer, bigger barrier to inspect it, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources will put a fish poison in the water and haul the carcasses to a landfill.

The barrier has been operating for six months and needs its first regular inspection, according to the Corps. Meantime, the older barrier is not considered sufficient to stop fish, especially smaller ones, from slipping through. DNA evidence from earlier tests suggests carp have come within a mile of the barrier. Hence the need for poison while the stronger barrier is down for inspection and maintenance.

Fisheries biologists have long experience with the poison that will be used and with a detoxifying chemical that is administered to counteract it. The antidote will be applied downstream to ensure no additional stretches of waterway are harmed, and then later in the poisoned stretch to return it to normal. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is contributing to the stock of antidote for the operation, and will supply up to a dozen crew members and whatever gear Illinois requests. As many as 200 people will be needed on site each day for the four to five days involved.

Some complaints have come from the shipping industry and barge operators who would have liked more lead time to prepare for the closure. But even those have been muted; most everyone seems to understand that protecting the Great Lakes takes priority here.

A third electrical barrier is supposed to be running by this time next year. In the meantime, another maintenance closure -- and presumably another round of fish poison -- may be necessary next spring.

Although it's an extreme measure, poisoning the canal should yield valuable information -- especially about how far Asian carp really have traveled -- that cannot be gleaned any other way. Let's hope the results don't suggest it should have been poisoned sooner.

FYI,

Posted: Nov. 19, 2009
Website link: http://freep.com/art...-save-the-lakes

This fish kill is necessary to save the lakes

Just to clarify this was an article that I posted for your information that I obtained from the link I posted.

I wonder how much rotenone they will apply and the cost of the rotenone and the postassium permanganate to netralize it? I'm all for just wondering what the cost is for the above chemicals.

Hopefully it kills all the fish in the canal. I've never seen it kill 100 percent in any of the lakes I've seen treated and I even treated one of my ponds and believe I had a couple survivors. I don't know how they do it but sometimes fish survive.

Hi Folks:

I was driving today and heard an interesting radio interview about this project on the CBC .... The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The program was called "The Current" and is about current events, not current in the sense we would normally think of.

Here is a link to the show's audio file ... I don't know how long it will be valid, depending on when you try to hear it, you may need to use their search function and look for Asian Carp.

http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/

Regards to all,
Radioguy

We're talking common and silver carp here?

We're talking common and silver carp here?

Silver and bighead carp. Commons are probably already in every body of water they can possibly survive in. One of our members posted some photos of swarms of common carp in Lake Erie a while back; it looked like you could walk across them without getting your feet wet.

Silver and bighead carp. Commons are probably already in every body of water they can possibly survive in. One of our members posted some photos of swarms of common carp in Lake Erie a while back; it looked like you could walk across them without getting your feet wet.

Absolutely. Common Carp have been in Lake Michigan for quite some time. Some very big specimens too. For some reason common carp do well in mesotrophic waters in the shallower water warmer water.

Edited by az9, 26 November 2009 - 10:02 PM.

Why can't native piscivorious fish populations be increased in response to the carp invasions? I know that nothing in the Great Lakes will eat a full grown carp, but fry, fingerlings, and juveniles are all fair game. Pike, muskie, salmon, and bass are all native to the Great Lakes. Increase these populations, and hypothetically the carp populations will go down too, right?

Why can't native piscivorious fish populations be increased in response to the carp invasions? I know that nothing in the Great Lakes will eat a full grown carp, but fry, fingerlings, and juveniles are all fair game. Pike, muskie, salmon, and bass are all native to the Great Lakes. Increase these populations, and hypothetically the carp populations will go down too, right?

And then add sharks once the pike take over the lakes......

Offsetting the balance wont bring anyhting back into balance. besides, carp are just too well suited to breed exponentially.

And then add sharks once the pike take over the lakes......

Offsetting the balance wont bring anyhting back into balance. besides, carp are just too well suited to breed exponentially.

But all fish are suited to breed exponentially. Biological control (using one species in an effort to control another species) has been employed successfully for many years. We simply need a fish that preferentially preys on juvenile carp.

But all fish are suited to breed exponentially. Biological control (using one species in an effort to control another species) has been employed successfully for many years. We simply need a fish that preferentially preys on juvenile carp.

Snakeheads?

why not, they can hybridize with the bowfin

But all fish are suited to breed exponentially. Biological control (using one species in an effort to control another species) has been employed successfully for many years. We simply need a fish that preferentially preys on juvenile carp.

Isn't that how the carp got there in the first place?