Asian Carp threatens Great Lakes’ ecosystem

January 18, 2010 • Jacob Byrnes  
Filed under News, Regional

There is an impending ecological disaster that is threatening one fifth of the world’s fresh surface water: Asian Carp.

Originally imported from Taiwan, the silver and bighead carp were first brought to Arkansas in 1972 to help fish farms control water quality by consuming algae. Since escaping, likely from flooded ponds, they have been chomping their way up the Mississippi River. The fish existed in small amounts in the wild for about two decades, but then numbers increased drastically in the early 1990s. The Carp has since spread up the Mississippi as far as Iowa and down it to Louisiana.

In addition, it has spread northwest along the Missouri River into South Dakota and northeast through the Illinois River. In the Mississippi river, the bighead and silver carp have become dominant species. They devour plankton in such large amounts that native species struggle to compete and survive. The bighead carp eats up to 40% of its body weight a day according to http://www.stopasiancarp.com, a website started by Michigan Attorney General Michael Cox. The largest have grown to as much as 100lbs in weight.

Asian carp also endanger the safety of boaters. The silver carp are known for jumping six feet into the air when alarmed by boat engines in the water, causing them to crash into boats and their occupants. On the Mississippi river, one woman was knocked unconscious. Others have reported broken jaws and temporary loss of boat control. They are also a serious hazard to the lives of water skiers because of their tendency to jump out of the water with an impact that has been compared to being struck with a bowling ball.

Now these alien invaders are only seven miles away from reaching the largest freshwater system in the world, the Great Lakes and the rivers that flow into them from Canada. In November of 2009, evidence was found that they were present in a canal connected to Lake Michigan, and now the fear is that they will endanger the ecosystem of the entire Great Lakes, starving the native salmon, trout and perch by consuming their food sources and threatening the region’s $7 billion fishing industry. Native fish in the Mississippi have already become notably skinnier as their food source diminishes.

Illinois, which controls the canal, refuses to close it off. Illinois officials say that the threat is exaggerated, that the evidence is inconclusive and that closure would damage the barge and shipping industries. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is the only water transport link between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin and closure would cost the barge industry about 400 jobs. Michigan Attorney General Michael Cox, along with four other states and the neighboring Canadian province of Ontario, have responded with a lawsuit against Illinois.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn argues that the carp can be stopped using poison or an electrified barrier. However both of these steps have been taken and both have failed. Poisoning the canal killed thousands of native fish but only one Asian carp. If an underwater electronic barrier was put in to prevent the carp from entering the canal, had it been effective, the carp would not be seven miles away from Lake Michigan.

To the disappointment of the Great Lake states, the Obama administration has sided with Illinois. Elena Kagan, his Solicitor General, last week told the Supreme Court that the federal government did not believe the “dramatic step” of closing the canal locks was necessary. On the campaign trail last year, Obama claimed he was the Great Lakes president and said he would have a zero tolerance policy for invasive species.

While experts can speculate, only time will tell how the growing population of Asian Carp will truly affect the Great Lakes’ ecosystem.

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