CHICAGO, Illinois, June 23, 2010 (ENS) – One invasive bighead Asian carp has been found in Lake Calumet along the Chicago Area Waterway System – the first fish that has been found above the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s electric barrier system built to keep out the voracious exotic species. The capture of this fish was announced today by the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee, RCC, a group of federal and state agencies and the City of Chicago. Asian carp threaten to enter the Great Lakes through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, a constructed waterway that is the only direct water link between the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan. This capture is the first Asian carp discovered above the electric barrier system and the second in the Chicago Area Waterway System. The first invasive fish was found in December 2009. These fish were imported by fish farms decades ago and introduced far south of Michigan, in the Mississippi Delta. Escaping from the fish farms because of flooding, they swam up the Mississippi and have now been seen as far north as the Dakotas, in the Missouri River basin. Scientists, government regulators and environmental groups agree that the invasive fish pose a threat to the Great Lakes because they can grow to more than six feet long and 100 pounds, quickly dominating any habitat they reach. They eat as much as 40 percent of their body weight every day, starving native species of food and upending ecosystem balances. These fish jump high out of the water, sometimes landing in boats. … The bighead carp, measuring 34.6 inches long and weighing nearly 20 pounds, was found in Lake Calumet which sits between T.J. O’Brien Lock and Dam and Lake Michigan. … Environmental groups throughout the Great Lakes are advocating quick action to impede the carp’s swim towards Lake Michigan. “Asian carp are like cockroaches, when you see one, you know its accompanied by many more you don’t see,” said Henry Henderson, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Midwest Program, and a former Commissioner of the Environment for the City of Chicago. … “A year of DNA testing has shown the Asian carp are in the Chicago waterways, and now we know they’re a hop, skip and jump from Lake Michigan,” said Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes. “Invaders will stop at nothing short of bricks and mortar, and time is running short to get that protection in place.” “This live bighead carp was caught well beyond the electric fence that was supposed to stop them, only six miles from Lake Michigan. There are no other physical barriers before these monsters reach Lake Michigan,” said Andy Buchsbaum, director of the Great Lakes Office of the National Wildlife Federation. “If the capture of this live fish doesn’t confirm the urgency of this problem, nothing will,” Buschbaum warned. “We need to pull out all the stops; this is code red for the Great Lakes.” …
‘Code Red’ for the Great Lakes, Asian Carp Penetrate Electric Barrier
