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News : What's Hot
Asian Carp: They're Getting Near and Why That's Bad News
June 25, 2010 -- Late Wednesday, an Asian carp was caught in Lake Calumet, about six miles from Lake Michigan.
That set off alarms. Michigan U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow made headlines when she called for the deployment of poison to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. Unfortunately, they may already be there. Politicians like Stabenow are willing to turn to unconventional warfare against this invader because this is a very unconventional sort of fish, one that could devastate a $7 billion regional fishing industry. Read the following three articles to get the details.
"Mapping out a battle plan has been fraught because of political divisions in the Great Lakes region. Illinois fought a request by Michigan to shut down close the locks on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal."
"Although someone could have dumped it there, it is more likely that the nearly three-foot long fish made it through the electric barrier," said Hugh MacIsaac, a University of Windsor professor and director of the Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network. "It's disconcerting because this is the main mechanism used to try to prevent these fish from getting into Lake Michigan."
"So why is the landing of a single fish so tremendous? That's because the Asian carp aren't your average kettle of fish. As I wrote back in February for Time.com, the carp are aggressive eating machines, and the Great Lakes ecosystem is like an all you can eat Big Boys buffet."
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The Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers web site is part of the ANS Task Force public
awareness campaign and is sponsored by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and the U.S. Coast Guard.
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