Asian Carp Invasion - Great Lakes

[Seaweed]

Groups Declare Asian Carp Emergency,

Call on Federal and Provincial governments to insist that Michigan Close all connections to Lake Michigan

 

copied from Georgian Bay Forever website

http://www.georgianbayforever.ca/

 

 

(Toronto) – News today that Asian carp may be about to enter the Great Lakes requires immediate action by Ottawa and the governments of Ontario and Quebec to call on their U.S. counterparts to declare a state of emergency.

 

New testing results shows the presence of Asian carp DNA above the final electric barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping canal in Illinois and adjacent to the O’Brien Lock just 6 miles south of Lake Michigan in the Calumet River – nearly 20 miles closer than previous tests had shown.

 

The group is strongly urging that Federal and Provincial governments demand that the U.S. Government declare an emergency to allow the Army Corps of Engineers, the US Coast Guard and the State of Illinois close the O'Brien, Chicago River and Wilmette locks and use all measures to ensure the fish are stopped. Monitoring results show that the waterways contain both bighead and silver carp and that the electric barrier built to keep them out of Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes has been breached.

 

Asian carp are voracious filter feeders that can grow to more than 4 feet long and weigh up to 100 pounds. Their size and voracious feeding habits will muscle out the native fishery.

 

Asian carp currently constitute 95% of the biomass in the Illinois River south of the electric barrier. If not prevented from entering Lake Michigan, they will quickly dominate and then take over the entire Great Lakes fishery.

 

“This is an emergency situation. This is news we've been dreading since the day the carp escaped into the Mississippi River just over 10 years ago,” said David Sweetnam, Executive Director of Georgian Bay Forever. “Failing to stop these invaders will destroy our Great Lakes fishery. Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans has performed a Risk Assessment, and it shows that these fish constitute a high risk for establishing and proliferating throughout all our lakes and rivers. They like our cold water. It’s time to act – the time for study is over. We must save the Great Lakes -- the world’s largest surface freshwater system – now and not let this be another Sea Lamprey type of failure.”

 

Mary Muter, Georgian Baykeeper for Georgian Bay Forever said: “The stakes are too high -- we have to act now. Getting this wrong will be catastrophic for the Great Lakes. Georgian Bay Forever and other groups have warned of the potential need for drastic action for a number of years now.”

 

Just last week the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers announced plans to close the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal for four to five days beginning Dec. 2 to perform routine maintenance on an electric barrier built to keep the carp at bay. While the barrier is out of service, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources plans to treat 6 miles of the canal between the barrier and the Lockport Lock and Dam with rotenone, a fish-killing poison. However, this new finding of Asian Carp DNA places the fish well above there, closer to lake Michigan. DFO and other Canadian Agencies have teams on standby to assist.

 

"If we don't close the locks linking this area with Lake Michigan, we are waving the white flag and allowing one of the greatest ecological tragedies to occur,” said Muter. "It is time for all emergency measures possible. It is too late to “study” this issue. Get out the fine nets, floats and weights and put them across every pathway. If the Asian carp make it to Lake Michigan, the damage to fisheries in the Lakes and tributaries will be profound and irreversible."

 

If the carp make their way into the Great Lakes, they could devastate the region's $4.5 billion fishing industry and permanently alter how recreational boaters, anglers and tourists use and enjoy the lakes and their many tributaries.

 

Link to map of the area: http://www.lrc.usace.army.mil/projects/fis...rier/index.html

 

What You Can Do: Email or call Canadian political leaders and ask that they insist that all emergency measures possible be put in place, including closing the locks and all hydrological connections to Lake Michigan until it is known that the Asian carp cannot get into the lake:

 

The Honourable Gail Shea

 

Minister of Fisheries and Oceans

 

613-992-3474

 

[email=">[email protected]

 

 

The Honourable Jim Prentice

 

Minister of the Environment

 

Telephone : 613-992-4275

 

Fax : 613-947-9475

 

[jrego7]

That would seriously suck if asian carp hit the great lakes... I couldn't even imagine how bad fishing would get over the years... Wow I hope they act soon.

[MCTFisher9120]

If it's important it will be stopped. If not then it wont be.

 

Good luck