Pressure rises to turn on Great Lakes carp barrier

Spiel · December 19, 2008

Pressure rises to turn on Great Lakes carp barrier

Dec. 11, 2008

The heat is cranking up on the Army Corps of Engineers to turn on its new electrical fish barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal - the best hope the region has to keep the Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes.

A group of 29 U.S. senators and representatives wrote to the corps and the U.S. Coast Guard this week, demanding answers as to why the $9 million device, completed in spring 2006, has yet to be turned on.

"We understand the need to thoroughly test the safety of the barrier and to establish safety guidelines to protect users of the canal, but these tests have lasted for many months," wrote members of the congressional coalition called the Great Lakes Task Force to the bosses of the Coast Guard and the Army Corps. "Meanwhile, Asian carp continue to head closer to the barrier."

Asian carp were imported to Arkansas over three decades ago and soon thereafter escaped their containment ponds. They have been migrating north since and have already overwhelmed stretches of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers.

The fish, which are now within 45 miles of Lake Michigan, can grow to 100 pounds.

They pose a severe hazard to recreational boaters because of their penchant for leaping out of the water when agitated by the whir of a boat motor. The filter feeders also feast at the bottom of the food chain - food upon which every other fish in invaded waters directly or indirectly depends.

"The $7 billion Great Lakes fishery is too important to jeopardize with lengthy delays on a permanent barrier," states the Dec. 9 letter, which was signed by U.S. Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl of Wisconsin. "We therefore ask you to provide us with a detailed work plan and timeline to complete barrier construction and testing, and then to begin operation at full capacity."

A smaller, less powerful electric "experimental" barrier is the only thing standing between the fish and the Great Lakes, the world's largest freshwater system.

The Journal Sentinel reported earlier this fall that nearly $1 million of the $9 million spent so far on the new barrier has gone into testing and projects to make the device safer for barge operators and recreational boaters on the artificial link between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River. Yet despite nearly 2 1/2 years of tests, neither the corps nor the Coast Guard could say when they would know enough to permanently turn on the barrier.

After the story was published, the eight Great Lakes governors wrote the secretaries of the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security asking for action.

On Thursday, Coast Guard Commander Tim Cummins said the Coast Guard had sent a response to the governors' letter up the chain of command in Homeland Security, but he was not sure what had become of it. Gov. Jim Doyle's office said Thursday it had yet to receive a reply.

But the Army Corps, which owns the barrier, is evidently convinced the safety concerns have been addressed. It wrote in a Dec. 1 letter to the Coast Guard that it believes the new barrier "presents minimal risk to canal users" and recommended turning it on, though not at full capacity.

Cummins said the Coast Guard, which has final say over barrier safety matters, will make a decision by Dec. 15.

If the barrier is activated in the coming weeks, it won't be allowed to operate at full strength.

All the safety tests have been with the new barrier operating at the same level as the weaker experimental barrier, or one volt per inch. The new barrier is designed to operate at a maximum of four volts per inch.

One volt per inch is enough to repel adult carp, but higher voltage is needed to repel juvenile fish, because smaller fish need more of a jolt to be turned away.

The barge industry has agreed to allow the new barrier to be turned on in an emergency if the temporary barrier fails, but only at one volt per inch. The fear is that higher voltage could cause sparking between barges carrying flammable cargoes or could kill a person who falls overboard.

The corps' barrier project manager, Chuck Shea, said the plan now is to conduct safety tests at the higher voltage early next year, and predicted those tests could be completed by summer.

"I'd think we could do the testing within a few months," he said.

Until those tests are completed, and until the barrier is operating at full strength, biologists say the door to the Great Lakes will remain cracked open.

"As I understand it, they're saying: Let's wait until small fish are present to boost this beyond one volt per inch," said University of Wisconsin Sea Grant's Phil Moy, who is co-chairman of an advisory panel helping the corps get the barrier built.

Moy says that panel is scheduled to meet with the corps on Jan. 8.

"One of the topics we want to bring up at the panel meeting is: How are we going to determine when small fish are present?"

That won't be easy, he said.

fishindevil · December 20, 2008

If they let those fish through,the great lakes will be ruined !!!! i can see the writing on the wall right now....they are doomed :wallbash: :dunno: :angry: