What can you do?

 
 

Educate: Inform others about the invasive species of these organisms in the U.S as well as the potential dangers these species have on our environment.


Don’t stand on the sidelines: Get involved with issues regarding these invasive species and support laws and groups that are working to protect certain bodies of waters such as the Great Lakes.


Participate in helpful practices to prevent

DNR person holding a large silver carp picture by: USFWS

spreading:

1. Don’t transport live fish from one body of water to another. 

*It is illegal to transport a live fish from one body to another body of water.* 


2. Dispose of any unused bait properly either in the trash or on land.


3. Drain all water from boats including bilge pumps and live wells.


REPORT IT! If you find an invasive species in an area it can be helpful to local and national levels of environmental agencies.  Report it to your local DNR or find a site online to report it.


ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS MOST PEOPLE DON’T
KNOW:

If you catch a carp KILL it.  It is actually illegal to throw a carp back into the body of water you took it from, either keep it for eating or kill it and leave on the shore. 




Photo courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service

What is being done?



    There have been ongoing efforts taking place over the years in attempt to keep these voracious creatures out of the Great Lakes.  In 2005 the U.S Army Corps of Engineers built an electric barrier in the man-made Chicago Sanitary and ship canal.   This barrier consists of two lines of electro
des that stretch across the Mississippi River and send out pulses of direct current into the river causing fish to turn back rather than to pass through the area.  This installment still allows for ships to safely pass through the canal without too much of an inconvenience.  The largest downside to using system is its extreme costs that go into simply running the direct current through the water 24/7.  About $500,000 a year goes into operating it.  In order to do maintenance on this, the government poisoned a 6 miles stretch over river below the damn with Rotenone in November 2009.  The chemical Rotenone kills any fish that is the closes vicinity to it, the dead fish were then scooped up and hauled off to be buried in landfills.  Quite a sad way to do it, not only killing all those different species of fish, but also wasting valuable meat on the fish. 
Despite these awful consequences efforts so far have been successful except for finding carp DNA in Lake Michigan in 2009.  As of April 2010 that report has not yet been verified as any live species actually in Lake Michigan.  The DNA could be present there for a number of reasons, but fears are that indeed some fish did cross the
barrier.
It has been proposed that the canal be closed all together, however there has been a lot of controversy regarding this.  The naturalists want it closed in fear of the electric barrier not being able to keep the silver and bighead carp out of Lake Michigan for much longer.  Chicago, however, who has a lot of boat traffic through the canal wants nothing to do with closing it by a dam as they are concerned about their trade that takes place between Lake Michigan and the

Chicago Area waterways map showing location of carp barrier (Illustration courtesy of Phil Moy, University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute

Mississippi River.  There are so many different sides surrounding this issue, the best way to find out what all is going on is to check out different articles.  I have a few interesting article links posted that may be beneficial to check out just to get the facts, take a side, and then take a stand because your opinion counts!


Potential Outlook for Lake Michigan:


Option A: The invasive carp enter into the Great Lakes and cause extremely damaging effects to the local fish.


Option B: The invasive carp enter into the Great Lakes and are unable to be fully successful, due to reproduction constraints.


Option C: Eventually the carp out compete themselves and their numbers crash, leveling themselves out with the rest of the native fishes.


Obviously there are a lot of more options of what could potentially happen with all these invasive species, but either way something is going to give.  At this point the only thing that can be done is predicting of what is to come and utilizing the sang “every ounce of caution is worth a pound of cure.”  It would be much better to try to prevent hypothetical catastrophes rather than allowing them come true in the future. 


Newspaper Articles:

Battle Against Invasive Carp Continues - general overview of carp problem

EDITORIAL: Drawing a battleline on Asian carp - governmental evolvement

Invasive Carps Threaten Great Lakes - Focusing on Lake Michigan plus general problems

 

Quick FACTS:

Silver carp are a highly invasive species

Impacts

Silver carp are outcompeting native species


What is the main concern?

Asian carp getting into Lake Michigan and spreading at exponential rates hurting the fishing and recreation industry.


What is being done?

Electric barrier installed at Chicago San-ship Canal Barrier

Your Part!

Above is a picture demonstrating the electric barrier that is in place on the

Mississippi River in an attempt to keep these invasive species from entering Lake Michigan.

Government sign to remind people to clean up their stuff and be smart about their recreational activities so there is reduced spread of invasive species