Future of the Great Lakes

[hammercarp]

Has anybody thought of what the result will be if and when these things get into the great lakes? Besides it's the end of the world. I say when because we have never successfully stopped anything like this.

Will they even do well in the great lakes? Two other native filter feeders the bigmouth buffalo fish and the paddle fish have not done that well in the great lakes.

If they are successful and do populate the great lakes in vast numbers will this result in the revival of commercial fishing. These fish are supposed to be good eating and because they are filter feeders, they should not be as contaminated as lake trout and other preditor fish.

Will this result in massive stocking campaigns? Puts lots and lots of big hungry chinooks in to feed off of the millions of asian carp fry.

Wiil the cormorant population skyrocket to even greater nmbers?

Wiil the sea lamprey population explode because a huge increase in fodder for them?

I know that this is shear speculation but like I stated . We have never stopped anything like this before. They are here to stay and we will have to cope with this.

[BillM]

They aren't here yet.

[irishfield]

Keep telling yourself that Bill...

[Radnine]

We don't need to worry really.

 

-Y2K will kill us all off first

and

-Purple Lustrife will suck up all of the water and the great lakes will be dry.

and

-Like any of this really matters when the Russians are going to nuke us at any minute

 

Jim

[Paully]

We don't need to worry really.

 

-Y2K will kill us all off first

and

-Purple Lustrife will suck up all of the water and the great lakes will be dry.

and

-Like any of this really matters when the Russians are going to nuke us at any minute

 

Jim

 

 

Dont forget 2012..

[BillM]

Keep telling yourself that Bill...

 

Until I see some proof, I will be.

[MuskyGreenHorn]

I really hope they don't make it here, but if history tells us anything, its doomed to repeat., so they will be here eventually. As for what will happen, its anyones guess. Look at zebra mussels and the round goby. Evryone said they would ruin everything, but ecosystems do adapt. I doubt you will see them being stocked or anything else being stocked as a counter measure. I also seriously doubt that asian carp will be the cause for a cormorant or lamprey population expolosion.

 

Great topic though. It is one that we should be discussing and have concern for.

[fishinguypat]

nahhh b you got it all wrong ....... the asian carp are actually asian people diguised as fish invading our waters so they can invade the greater north american region...and i'm one of emmm!!!!....... joking aside sorry to any asian out there lol

[ChrisK]

the asian carp are actually asian people diguised as fish invading our waters so they can invade the greater north american region...and i'm one of emmm!!!!.......

 

I can't remember the last time an asian carp posted anything on our board

[ehg]

As for what will happen, its anyones guess. Look at zebra mussels and the round goby. Everyone said they would ruin everything, but ecosystems do adapt.

The Zebra mussels actually cleared the water which made it better for pike, musky, and bass fishing. Sight feeders.

The gobies are seen as a good bait to duplicate. Your right about ecosystems adapting.

 

We have to wait and see. Hopefully the Great Lakes are too cold and vast for these Asian Carp to like.

[Bernie]

http://www.boattest.com/Resources/view_news.aspx?NewsID=3977

[spinnerbaitking]

I for one don't like the idea of a 20lb carp jumping out of the water & smacking me in the head while I go down the lake at any speed & if I want to bow fish for them I'd go to the States to do it, lets hope they don't make it here

Richard

[bassmaster4]

The Zebra mussels actually cleared the water which made it better for pike, musky, and bass fishing. Sight feeders.

The gobies are seen as a good bait to duplicate. Your right about ecosystems adapting.

 

We have to wait and see. Hopefully the Great Lakes are too cold and vast for these Asian Carp to like.

pardon me if i am mistaken but i heard that they have no problems at all in cold water, this is not going to be good i hope there is a way for them to stop this. I heard something about them letting some sort of chemical into the waters to kill all of the fish, then they would start restocking all game fish, whatever happened to that, it was supposed to happen early december.

 

edit: them being the government or whoever controls that kind of stuff

Edited January 25, 2010 by bassmaster4

[cram]

i quite frankly am terrified for what will happen when they get here. Unlike zebra mussels and purple loosetrife, these critters have demonstrated the ability to wipe out an ecosystem.

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

definite trouble. any critter that large feeding on the bottom of the food chain is bad for all fish and ecosystems in general.

[BillM]

pardon me if i am mistaken but i heard that they have no problems at all in cold water, this is not going to be good i hope there is a way for them to stop this. I heard something about them letting some sort of chemical into the waters to kill all of the fish, then they would start restocking all game fish, whatever happened to that, it was supposed to happen early december.

 

edit: them being the government or whoever controls that kind of stuff

 

 

According to 'Going Green' on WFN, they used that chemical in a 6 mile stretch of the canal where the carp had gotten into and found exactly 1 fish....

[ehg]

According to 'Going Green' on WFN, they used that chemical in a 6 mile stretch of the canal where the carp had gotten into and found exactly 1 fish....

Apparently the 1 dead Asian carp was found 40 miles downstream from Lake Michigan

At least their is an awareness of this situation. Obama has been told of this, so when it makes economic sense

these fish will be taken care of...

[hammercarp]

Apparently the 1 dead Asian carp was found 40 miles downstream from Lake Michigan

At least their is an awareness of this situation. Obama has been told of this, so when it makes economic sense

these fish will be taken care of...

Obama has already made that decision and it's just the opposite of what you were expecting.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9485989

[hammercarp]

Here's something else. The electric barrier that was supposed to stop the carp from getting into the great lakes was originally proposed and set up to stop the round goby from entering the mississippi watershed from the great lakes. It failed.

[Vanselena]

If they get in to the great lakes system then thousands of lakes will be affected due to the connecting rivers. As mentioned earlier this species tends to dominant once they populate, within 10 years 95% of the fish are asian carp. The shallow lakes will feel the impact first, lakes like Erie, Simcoe, Kawartha's. These fish naturally live from Syberia down to China. Boats will have to be modified with cages to stop flying fish from breaking limbs.

 

You can pretty much forget bass, walleye and perch as they will be hit first as the water they live in is rich in plankton. Baitfish will be hit hard also and that will impact the cold water species. There will be a negative impact on any predator and that includes Comorants.

 

Yes the ecosystem will adjust but likely the only fishing will be from shore.

 

They have tried to commercially harvest these fish and appearently the market is not big enough to support the boat owner.

 

The best investment you could make would be to buy property on land locked lakes.

Edited January 25, 2010 by Vanselena

[cram]

I wish the Canadian Gov't could sue the US Gov't to ensure the canal is closed.....there is no way a Chicago-bred President is going to close the canal unless there's a massive financial penalty associated with not doing it.

[ehg]

Obama has already made that decision and it's just the opposite of what you were expecting.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9485989

Knowing of this decision by Obama forced me to word things the way i did. Closing access from the Mississippi to the Great Lakes really makes no economic sense. It cuts off a major shipping route to Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Montreal etc...

 

Hopefully they won't adapt...they are still in the same area they were in 5+ yrs. ago.

[hammercarp]

I wish the Canadian Gov't could sue the US Gov't to ensure the canal is closed.....there is no way a Chicago-bred President is going to close the canal unless there's a massive financial penalty associated with not doing it.

Ontario did join other great lake states in a court action. We lost. Of course when it comes to legal systems there never is a last word.

Like I said we have never stopped anything like this before. So we might as well think of ways to cope with having these fish in our waters.

[MuskyGreenHorn]

There is definately cause for alarm. Our best defense is to keep spreading the word and pressuring the Government to do more to protect our Great Lakes. Unfortunately Protecting the Environment doesn't seem to to be much of a priority for the current Harper Government. I hope more people take taht into consideration during the next election.

[daryl0815]

I think that it is definitely a bad thing that the carp are coming up here, I think that it is only a matter of time.

 

They are apparently a fairly destructive species, some eating 3 times their body weight in a single day, and they get up past 75 lbs, I dont know if they will adapt to the great lakes very well, but I can see them getting into the kawarthas and eating lots of weeds, which might not be such a horrible thing on scugog!

 

I dont know if it is true or not, but I have heard that it is only aluminum boats that sends them flying out of the water?

 

I wish they would do something about the carp getting up here, but I doubt that anything will get done quickly, and it will likely be too little too late unfortunately, the government, and court process work too slowly