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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Court won't close shipping locks to keep out carp
By JOHN FLESHER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 19, 2010; 12:47 PM
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to order immediate closure of shipping locks near Chicago to prevent Asian carp from infesting the Great Lakes.
The court rejected a request by Michigan for a preliminary injunction to close the locks temporarily while a long-term solution is sought to the threatened invasion by the ravenous fish. The one-sentence ruling didn't explain the court's reasoning.
Asian carp, primarily bighead and silver varieties, have been migrating up the Mississippi and Illinois rivers toward the Great Lakes for decades. They have swarmed waterways near Chicago leading to Lake Michigan.
Scientists fear that if they reach the lakes, they could disrupt the food chain and endanger the $7 billion fishery.
The biggest Asian carp can reach 4 feet in length and weigh 100 pounds while consuming up to 40 percent of their body weight daily in plankton, the foundation of the Great Lakes food web.
Many scientists say they could starve out popular species such as trout and salmon.
They also are spooked by passing motors and often hurtle from the water, colliding with boaters forcefully enough to break bones.
Officials poisoned a section of the canal in December after discovering genetic material that suggested at least some carp might have eluded an electric barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and could be within six miles of Lake Michigan. If so, the only other obstacles between them and the lake are shipping locks and gates.
Last week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said additional carp DNA - but no live fish - had been found in three different spots along the Chicago River within a mile of where it flows into Lake Michigan.
Michigan, joined by Minnesota, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin and the Canadian province of Ontario, asked the high court to order the locks closed as a stopgap measure while considering a permanent separation between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi River basin.
"While this action means that the court will not order an immediate closure of the locks ... it does not mean that no action will be taken in the case," said Josh Mogerman, spokesman for the National Resources Defense Council. "There is still a significant possibility that the court will issue a decision regarding Michigan's broader requests for action on this issue."
The state of Illinois, backed by the Obama administration, fought the proposal. They said the DNA samples weren't sufficient evidence that the carp were on the verge of slipping into Lake Michigan, and said closing the locks would damage shipping and passenger traffic on the busy waterway.
A message seeking comment was left Tuesday with Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office.
Edited by walleye express 1/19/2010 1:27 PM
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Location: Chicago IL. | Hi Dan. Its too late already. They have DNA samples in the upper pumping station. Its closeing the barn door after the horse got out. We have been screamming about this for years and nobody took notice untill they killed the section of river. Now big money will be lost if they seal it off and you know what happens when big money goes against the fishing industery. That barrier was off more that it was on untill this spring because they never tested it and were affraid it would blow up boats as they passed. So at any giving time those fishies just swam by. Plus the smucks put it where when it gets high water,,,they could swim around it!!!! I hope i`m wrong, but people are kidding themselfs if they think there not in the lake michigan already. Those buggers will thrive in the Chicago river | |
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Location: Chicago IL. | My fears were right. They found DNA of the carp in Calumet Harbor of Lake Michigan yesterday. Closeing the locks will make no difference now. | |
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Location: Elgin, Illinois | A good reason why things like a boat lift between Green Bay and Winnebago are bad ideas... Man can't beat the fish, the fish don't know they are supposed to lose... | |
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| It still could make a difference in the mass of fish infiltrating the system. A few in the systems might not survice predation and elements whereas, thousands would increase the odds.
Take care,
Jim O | |
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Location: Lincoln Park, Mi | I read a very disturbing quote from the corps today. They stated that they do not consider it an emergency situation, and will not take drastic measures until they find HUNDREDS, yes HUNDREDS, in Lake Michiga itself, proving that they can establish in the lake.
It sure doesn't look good at this point. Seems like that plan is definitely going to be too late. Chalk up another f-up to the corps growing list. | |
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Location: Elgin, Illinois | terroreyes - 1/20/2010 5:30 PM
I read a very disturbing quote from the corps today. They stated that they do not consider it an emergency situation, and will not take drastic measures until they find HUNDREDS, yes HUNDREDS, in Lake Michiga itself, proving that they can establish in the lake.
It sure doesn't look good at this point. Seems like that plan is definitely going to be
too late. Chalk up another f-up to the corps growing list.
So, after hundreds are established the Corps will then admit that we are up the creek without a solution... Brave of them... | |
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Location: Lincoln Park, Mi | hgmeyer - 1/20/2010 6:56 PM
So, after hundreds are established the Corps will then admit that we are up the creek without a solution... Brave of them...
No, they'll probably want a tax-payer funded project going to them to clean up the mess. Nothing better than creating your own job security.
The exact quote:
Federal officials tried Tuesday to downplay DNA results and said they are doing everything possible to prevent a larger carp invasion.
"We don't know where the fish are," said Maj. Gen. John Peabody, commander of the Great Lakes and Ohio River district of the Army Corps of Engineers, which ordered the DNA testing. "The DNA shows us where they may be."
Asked how many live carp would have to be found before federal agencies would change their current plans on dealing with the invasive species, Charles Wooley, deputy regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said several hundred.
"We would have to be talking about a couple hundred fish that would start to indicate that reproduction could occur," he said.
Edited by terroreyes 1/20/2010 6:20 PM
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| That coarse of action worked well in the past...after a couple hundred gobies, a couple hundred zebra muscles they jumped right on it! There will be absolutely no way to control or kill the population once they establish within the lake. The only thing to pray for is that the zebra muscles filter the lake clean enough it doesn’t give them much to survive on…it will come down to which species is hardier. | |
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Location: Lincoln Park, Mi | My aplogies to the corps. After rereading my own post, it was a US Fish and Wildlife moron. | |
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Location: Elgin, Illinois | Ahhhh different tribe of morons.... you SHOULD be ashamed.... Poking at the Corps of Engineers.../ they have only destroyed the Mississippi River and countless other bodies of water... | |
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Location: Lincoln Park, Mi | I only apologize for attributing the quote to them. All other statements and opinions stand! 
Here's a good op-ed
http://www.freep.com/article/20100121/SPORTS10/1210482/1356/SPORTS/...
Edited by terroreyes 1/21/2010 7:15 PM
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Here's some more info and facts we'll all need after we rig our boats for those flying 100 pounders.
Asian Carp in Chicago FAQs
Asian Carp in Chicago FAQs
This webpage is intended to provide information on Asian Carp in Chicago. As events unfold, I will attempt to update and refine the information here. Comments, criticisms, and questions are welcome... but your patience will also be appreciated.
Philip Willink, Ph.D.
The Field Museum / Fish Division
1400 S. Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL
60605
[email protected]
Last updated: 2009 / December
What is an Asian Carp? There is a little bit of confusion around this issue. Generally when people talk about Asian Carp, they mean two closely related species: Bighead Carp (scientific name Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) and Silver Carp (scientific name Hypophthalmichthys molitrix). These are the invasive species that are spreading throughout the Mississippi River, and are now threatening to enter the Great Lakes through the Chicago Canal system. Silver Carp are notorious for jumping. Bighead Carp do not jump (at least as often). Some people are using the term Bigheaded Carp to replace Asian Carp. In each instance, they are talking about the same two species.
The situation is slightly more complicated in that there are dozens of carp species in the world, and almost all are originally from Asia. None are native to North America, although a few have become established here. Common Carp (Cyprinus carpio) are also carp originally from Asia, but were brought to North America in the 1800s. They have been here so long that many people think they are native. Goldfish (Carassius auratus) are also a type of carp from Asia, and they can be surprising abundant in urban environments. Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) is another type of carp from Asia that is routinely stocked in ponds and rivers to control excessive plant growth. Black Carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus) is sometimes mistakenly moved around with the similar looking Grass Carp. So in one sense, there are actually six species of invasive Asian Carps. But this is not what most people mean when they say Asian Carp.
As an aside, all carps are related and in the family Cyprinidae. Many of our local native minnows are also in the family Cyprinidae, hence are distant relatives to the Asian Carp.
Will the Electric Barrier prevent the spread of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes? NO. You would be hard-pressed to find a fish biologist that believes the electric barrier will stop the spread of Asian Carp from the Mississippi basin to Lake Michigan. We have been using electricity to survey fishes since the 1930s. Biologists have a lot of experience using this method, and it is one of the best for collecting fishes. However, when you are in the field you always notice a few individuals getting away. Whether it is something about those particular fish, or water chemistry, or something in the habitat, or some other factor, electricity is not 100% effective. It may very well be up to 99% effective, but that is not good enough to stop the spread of invasive species. We need something that is 100% effective. The electric barrier is simply not good enough.
There is also the issue that a section of the Des Plaines River floods upstream of the Electric Barrier. Since Asian Carp have unrestricted access to the Des Plaines River, they can swim up it then bypass the Electric Barrier all together. It is my understanding that there are plans to put in a fence along this flood zone to prevent the passage of fishes. Whether this will be done in time, or if it is even too late, is something we will find out in the future.
If the Electric Barrier is not going to work, then how can we stop the spread of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes? Our options are limited. The basic biological issue is this: fishes have been swimming in this planet’s rivers, lakes, and oceans for millions of years. They are extremely good at it! If they were not, they would have gone extinct long ago. The only factors that reliably stop fishes from swimming from one place to another are 1) dry land and 2) waterfalls. (Some fish species can walk over land, and a few can climb waterfalls, but fortunately Asian Carp cannot do either.)
In my opinion, the only viable method of stopping the spread of Asian Carp through the Chicago Canal system is to close the locks and dam the canal (i.e., the width of the dam is being considered impassable ‘dry land’). You could conceivably allow some of the lock-and-dam complexes to spill over, forming waterfalls. If these waterfalls are high enough, then the Asian Carp could not jump over them. The Lockport, Brandon, and Dresden lock-and-dam complexes may be high enough.
The problem with closing the Chicago Canal system is that boats and barges will no longer be able to use it. As long as boats and barges can move through the Chicago Canal system, so can fishes. We need to accept this fact.
Complete closure of the Chicago Canal system would allow waste water from treatment plants to flow back into Lake Michigan. If you allow some of the lock-and-dam complexes to spill over to form waterfalls, then waste water would continue to flow towards the Mississippi, as it has done for the last century.
I have not seen any other realistic options.
Experience has shown that using rotenone to kill fishes is an extremely short-term solution. The moment the rotenone dissipates, fishes from nearby areas begin to re-colonize the kill zone.
The bottom line is that we need to choose between keeping the canals open to allow boats and barges to move between the Mississippi and Great Lakes, or close the canals and stop the spread of invasive Asian Carp. This is a difficult decision. Many people’s livelihoods are dependent upon the movement of goods through the Chicago Canal system, and this is one of the factors that made Chicago a great, international city. But many people are also dependent upon the Great Lakes fisheries. And one has to consider the unique and irreplaceable natural heritage of the Great Lakes.
Is the Bighead Carp caught during the 2009 December fish kill the nearest Asian Carp record for Lake Michigan? NO. In 2004 a Silver Carp was found roughly two miles downstream from the Electric Barrier, making it the closest record to Lake Michigan. This was reported in the papers at the time, and the record has been published online and in books. We (or at least some of us) have known for years that occasional Asian Carp are swimming up to the Electric Barrier. The main body of the Asian Carp invasion still appears to be further downstream, somewhere between Channahon (where Interstate 55 crosses the Des Plaines River) and Joliet. This is a fairly typical pattern for a species expanding its range. You first see a few stray individuals that tend to wander from the rest of the group. Over time you see more and more of them until they become established permanent residents.
Bighead Carp have also been caught in McKinley Park lagoon (in 2003 and 2004) and Columbus Park lagoon (in 2006 and 2009), both in Chicago and upstream of the Electric Barrier. However, to the best of my knowledge, these lagoons are isolated from all other water sources. In other words, there is no way these carp could have swum there. Instead, someone put them there, either accidentally or intentionally. We do not know who or why.
Have Asian Carp been found in the Great Lakes? YES, but there is no solid proof they are in Lake Michigan. Bighead Carp have been found in Lake Erie in 1995, 2000, 2002, and 2003. To the best of my knowledge, they have not established a breeding population there. We do not know how they were introduced, but presumably someone dumped them in the lake. Why and whether it was accidental or intentional is unknown.
To date, no Asian Carp are known to have passed from the Mississippi through the Chicago Canal system into Lake Michigan. Until an actual body is found, we will not have solid evidence. There is always the possibility that they may have done so undetected, but, in my opinion, I am not 100% convinced that this has happened yet.
How many Asian Carp have to pass the Electric Barrier before they are established in Lake Michigan? At least 2, but probably a lot more. When Asian Carp spawn, a female releases eggs into the water, and then a nearby male releases sperm into the water. Some of the eggs will fertilize and become baby carp. This is why you need at least two fish: one female and one male.
The tricky part is the 2 fish need to be near each other at the right time and in the right place. Usually the right time and place is in a river in the Spring. So if we were to take 2 Asian Carp and dump them in the middle of Lake Michigan in late Summer, the likelihood that these 2 fish would be next to each other the following Spring is almost Zero.
However, if we were to take 100 or several hundred Asian Carp and confine them between two dams in a river with suitable habitat, then we would have a very good chance of having lots of Asian Carp babies. A single female Bighead Carp can have 11,000 to 1.8 million eggs, and single female Silver Carp can have 57,000 to 4.3 million eggs. The vast majority of the eggs / young are eaten or die, but you can see how it is possible to get a lot of Asian Carp very quickly under the right circumstances.
One relevant example is the establishment of a Silver Carp population in the Gobind Sagar Reservoir, India after the accidental escape of approximately 47 individuals.
If (when) the Asian Carp pass the Electric Barrier, is there anything we can do to stop them from entering Lake Michigan? Not much. Once past the Electric Barrier, there are at least 5 access points into Lake Michigan. Three of these have lock-and-dam complexes (1 – O’Brien Lock in the Calumet River, south side of Chicago, 2 – Chicago Lock at the mouth of the Chicago River, downtown Chicago, and 3 – Wilmette Lock at the north end of the North Shore Channel, Wilmette Harbor) that can be closed. The other two (1 – Indiana Harbor via the Grand Calumet River, and 2 – Burns Harbor via the Little Calumet River) do not have lock-and-dam complexes, so they cannot be closed. (As far as I am aware. If anyone knows differently, then send me a message.) The last two are relatively small, shallow, and marshy in places, but fish can still pass through, especially when water levels are high. Asian Carp may have to swim around for a little while, but eventually they will find their way into Lake Michigan.
You may have heard of government officials requesting the closure of the O’Brien Lock. Unfortunately this will accomplish little. The Asian Carp will either swim through another lock that is open or through a channel that does not have a lock.
In theory you could use nets or poison to block the channels, but in reality this is almost impossible. Nets tear and it is difficult to set them in a manner such that fishes could not sneak around them. Any passing boat would rip a net to shreds. Poison only works for a few days at most, and only affects a small area.
When will Asian Carp enter Lake Michigan? Or if you think they are already in Lake Michigan, when will they enter in significant numbers? Anywhere from one month from now to several years from now. To some of us that have been tracking Asian Carp, this is the biggest mystery. Once these fish entered the Illinois River, they rapidly crossed the state of Illinois. If they had continued swimming upstream at that same speed, they should have been in Lake Michigan a couple years ago. (This is assuming the Electric Barrier would hinder their movement, but not stop them.)
However, somewhere between Starved Rock State Park and the junction of the Des Plaines and Kankakee rivers, the Asian Carp slowed down. Let me emphasize that they did NOT stop. They are still moving towards Lake Michigan, just not as quickly as they once were. And we do not know why.
It is possible the lock-and-dam complexes are slowing them down, but they have already passed numerous lock-and-dam complexes elsewhere. Perhaps there is not enough plankton, their food? But Gizzard Shad and other plankton eating fishes are abundant in the area. I once thought pollution coming out of Chicago was slowing them down, but the Asian Carp appear to be more numerous in the Des Plaines River (which receives Chicago’s pollution) than in the nearby Kankakee River (which is relatively cleaner). Plus, Asian Carp have not had trouble with pollution elsewhere. Lack of oxygen dissolved in the water has been suggested, but that does not seem to explain this either. All we know is that some environmental variable(s) is slowing them down, but not stopping their movement towards Lake Michigan.
The good news is we still have time to act. The bad news is the Asian Carp could overcome this hindrance at any time and rapidly start swimming towards Lake Michigan. We do not know enough about these fishes to make an accurate prediction.
What impact will Asian Carp have on the Great Lakes? The honest answer is: We do not know. We will only know for sure years after it happens. And by then it is too late. But we can make an educated guess based on what we do know about their biology.
The following is a quote from Duane Chapman (USGS in Missouri): “In Asia they [Asian Carp] are rarely captured from flowing water except during spawning events. They don't live in the rivers, they live in associated floodplain lakes. In the USA, they don't have as many floodplain options, so they exist mostly on channel margins or slow-moving tributaries or behind wingdikes. [Wingdikes are rows of rubble or other debris that angle out into a river to channel the flow towards the center of the river. The water downstream or behind a wingdike is still and calm, like behind a breakwater.]”
“In Lake Balaton in Europe, in reservoirs in Pakistan, and many other places around the world where carp have access to rivers and lakes or reservoirs, the adult fish primarily live in the open water of the lake (where it is extremely difficult to catch them, because the fish are so net and boat shy that it is difficult to encircle them, and they swim under or jump over nets). In Lake Balaton, 1/5 the size of Lake Erie, and similar in temperature and water chemistry to Lake Erie after it was cleaned up but before zebra mussels invaded, the silver carp are HUGE and very happy out in the middle of the lake. Average size in my colleague's last week sampling trip was 33 pounds, the average fish bigger than any silver carp I have seen in the USA.”
What is fascinating and unfortunate about this is Asian Carp in their native range primarily live in large rivers or lakes alongside rivers that seasonally flood. They prefer still to slow-moving water. But if they are unable to find their native habitat, they can adapt to their current conditions and find similar habitats, such as the sides of river channels out of the main current, reservoirs, or large lakes. They are very good at finding places to live. They have done so in the Mississippi River, and will presumably do so in the Great Lakes.
We would not expect to find them in large numbers in small streams or deep in the Great Lakes.
Asian Carp eat plankton, small plants and animals floating in the water. They therefore compete directly with anything else that eats plankton. This includes adult fishes, like Alewife. But more significantly, it includes baby fishes, like juvenile Yellow Perch and just about every other fish species in the Great Lakes. Asian Carp appear to be superior competitors, so we expect declines in the abundances of many fishes. You would also expect that there will be more Asian Carp where there is more food (i.e., higher plankton concentrations).
Juvenile Asian Carp will be eaten by large predaceous fishes, like salmon, pike, bass, etc. But the Asian Carp grow quickly and soon reach a size too large for other fishes to feed upon them. The only significant predator of adult Asian Carp is people.
There has been a lot of talk about Asian Carp needing 60 miles of free flowing, undammed river water to reproduce. This has to do with their spawning behavior and subsequent development of fertilized eggs / embryos. What happens is Asian Carp in the spring when water levels start to rise congregate in a particular area in a river. The females release eggs into the water, the males release sperm into the water, and you get baby Asian Carp. Actually, you get tiny fertilized eggs that drift downstream with the current. The current is thought to keep the fertilized eggs suspended in the water, where they are ‘safe’. If they drop to the bottom of the river, some think that the fertilized eggs get buried by sediment or eaten. That is why you need a river 60 miles long for Asian Carp to successfully reproduce. The fertilized eggs need to be suspended in the water column until they have a chance to hatch.
In my opinion, I would downplay this requirement. I suspect the fertilized eggs are more resilient than we realize. And there are instances where other species of fishes with similar riverine spawning requirements are known to spawn along wave-swept lakeshores. What will probably happen is that there will be lots of Asian Carp spawning in all kinds of different places, and those that are successful will multiply rapidly. Keep river size in mind, but do not get overly fixated on it.
What is eDNA or Environmental DNA? At this time, most of us do not know. The procedure is basically taking a bucket of water, isolating DNA from it (which presumably was shed by fishes swimming nearby), and then matching the DNA with known DNA sequences of the species of interest. In these days of CSI and other scientific breakthroughs, the technique has great promise.
The problem is the Asian Carp eDNA method has not been validated, so it is difficult to interpret the results. From what I understand (and I was told this third or fourth-hand, so take that for what it is worth), the lab doing the work has not released its protocol. This raises all kinds of red flags. Without knowing how they isolate the DNA, we do not know if samples are being contaminated. And there are a multitude of serious contamination issues when dealing with trace amounts of DNA.
It is also critical to know the exact sequence(s) of DNA they are looking at to find matches. What primers and/or enzymes are they using? (My apologies for using technical terms.) You need to know this to make sure there are no accidental mismatches resulting in false positives. In other words, the test may be showing that Asian Carp are present when they are not actually there.
Hopefully in time we will have a better idea of what is going on here. At the moment, it is difficult to know what these data mean.
The following FAQs are more general in nature, pertaining to Asian Carp and the Great Lakes, but not necessarily the situation in Chicago:
Why are Asian Carp not a problem in Asia, their native home? What natural factors prevent them from becoming super-abundant? There are a variety of factors at work here. In much of modern-day Asia, Asian Carp have been a popular food fish for a long time, so they are harvested commercially. Overfishing is the real problem. Asian Carp numbers are also hurt by dams and pollution destroying their natural habitats.
Prior to people having such an impact on the Asian environment, the story was different. We do not know how abundant they were at this time, but there could have been a lot of Asian Carp. There were also other species of fishes that fed upon plankton, hence competed with Asian Carp for food. There was also a limited amount of habitat suitable for spawning and feeding.
In addition to competitors and habitat, there were predators that presumably ate Asian Carp, particularly the young. Some examples are two species of freshwater dolphin, a 20-foot paddlefish (the Chinese paddlefish ate fish, whereas the much smaller North American paddlefish feeds on plankton), several species of snakeheads (another famous invasive species that has been in the news), and others.
So a combination of competition, predation, and habitat availability presumably kept Asian Carp numbers in check. And we can expect the same thing in the Mississippi, and possibly the Great Lakes. Oftentimes with invasive species their numbers increase dramatically at first, then drop down to a semi-equilibrium point. Where this semi-equilibrium point will be with Asian Carp, we do not know at this time. It could take years or decades before we find out. Many of our native species will suffer in the short- and long-term.
(Duane Chapman (USGS in Missouri) helped provide some of the ideas in this FAQ.)
Can you eat Asian Carp? YES. Asian Carp are a very popular food fish in many places around the world. They are not so popular in the United States for a couple of reasons. First, people react negatively to the name Carp and assume the fish tastes bad. This is not a particularly fair judgment, and is more a matter of personal taste. Second, they do tend to be bony, and have some bones that are more difficult to remove. But with a little extra effort, these can be dealt with easily enough. The bottom line is that there really is no reason not to eat them.
If you are still interested in eating Asian Carp, check out these videos provide by Duane Chapman (USGS in Missouri):
Flying Fish, Great Dish (Part 1: Introduction & Removing Filets)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1NVUV8yhmU
Flying Fish, Great Dish (Part 2: Making "Flying Carp Wings")
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CB-fmA07gZ8
Flying Fish, Great Dish (Part 3: Deboning Filets & Closing Credits)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhGkjwxm_0o
As is often reported, did Asian Carp first escape into the Mississippi River during the massive 1993 floods? NO. In some respects, the truth is actually scarier. Asian Carp were first brought into the United States in the early 1970s. It did not take long before they escaped. The first Silver Carp caught in the Mississippi basin was in 1974 or 1975. The first Bighead Carp was caught in 1981. It did not take a natural disaster to release them into the wild. They are quite adept at escaping on their own.
As is often reported, do Asian Carp make up 90% of the fishes in the Mississippi River or Illinois River? There are certainly a lot of Asian Carp in these rivers. Nobody doubts that. And there are more now than there were 40 years ago, when there were no Asian Carp. But there appears to be some confusion about exactly how many there are today. For example, see the following quote by Duane Chapman (USGS in Missouri):
“These quotes on biomass in the Mississippi River or Illinois River or Missouri River of Asian Carp being 90% of the total (or, I saw today, now 95%!) are not based on any study or any fact. I fear the number results from a talk I gave where I was talking about how much of my catch is Asian Carp, using methods similar to those used by commercial fishers to catch Asian Carp and buffalos [In this instance, buffalos are type of native fish related to redhorses, suckers, and carpsuckers]. About 2/3 of the fish I catch when targeting Asian Carp are Asian Carp, and I don't usually weigh the native fish, but since they are so much smaller than the Asian Carp, the poundage of the catch is probably between 80 and 90% Asian Carp by weight. I was referring to bycatch when targeting Asian Carp, not the biomass of fish in the river. I don't know this is where that came from, but I fear it is so. “
Okay, what Duane is saying here is that when he goes out to intentionally catch Asian Carp, 90% (by weight) of what he catches are Asian Carp. But he is not trying to catch ALL the fishes in the river, so he does not know how Asian Carp numbers compare to all the other fish species.
Admittedly, this is a little confusing and we are nitpicking about facts. For the time being, let us just say there are a lot of Asian Carp. There is no dispute about this. Once I find data from a better study, I will post it on this website.
Semi-Random Thoughts and Opinions
"It is time to seriously consider re-reversing the Chicago River. The city of Chicago stunned the world in the 19th Century by reversing the flow of the Chicago River, an act that saved thousands of lives from water-borne diseases and facilitated the transport of goods which stimulated the region's economy and helped propel Chicago onto the international stage. Now, in the 21st Century, Chicago has another opportunity to be a world leader by protecting the Great Lakes, one of this planet's largest freshwater ecosystems. Chicago's history is intricately linked with water, as is its future." (2009 / December / 22)
"The Asian Carp and the Chicago Canal System have unwittingly created an opportunity for one of the most important decisions influencing the future of the Great Lakes. This has less to do with the impact the Asian Carp may or may not have on the Great Lakes' ecosystems, and more to do with society's values. Will the environment play a role in decision making? Or are the Great Lakes simply a resource to be profited from? Future ramifications will be applicable to other invasive species, pollution, parks, drinking water, trans-oceanic shipping, etc. What does society see as important? What does society truly value?" (2009 / December / 22)
"The Asian Carp and the Chicago Canal System are on the brink of becoming a text-book example on the handling of invasive species. Whether it will be judged a landmark success or a complete failure remains to be seen. It is very close, but at the moment it looks like the Asian Carp have a slight advantage. The situation can change rapidly." (2009 / December / 22)
Suggested Reading
Kolar, C.S., D.C. Chapman, W.R. Courtenay Jr., C.M. Housel, J.D. Williams, and D.P. Jennings. 2007. Bigheaded carps: a biological synopsis and environmental risk assessment. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 33, Bethesda, Maryland. - Most comprehensive treatment of what is known about the biology of Asian (aka Bigheaded) Carp. However, what we know is always changing, so supplement this text with recent publications.
Willink, P.W. 2009. Book review: Bigheaded carps: a biological synopsis and environmental risk assessment. Copeia 2009:419-421. - For a PDF of this publication, please go to the bottom of this webpage and click on 'Willink Asian Carp book review June 2009.pdf'.
DeGrandchamp, K.L., J.E. Garvey, and R.E. Colombo. 2008. Movement and habitat selection by invasive Asian Carps in a large river. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 137:45-56.
DeGrandchamp, K.L., J.E. Garvey, and L.A. Csoboth. 2007. Linking adult reproduction and larval density of invasive carp in a large river. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 136:1327-1334.
Bowman, D. 2009. We've wasted millions on electric barrier boondoggle. Chicago Sun-Times, December 1, 2009. - This article lists the occurrences of Asian Carp in Chicago park lagoons.
Haskell, D.C. 1940. An electrical method of collecting fish. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 69:210-215.
Funk, J.L. 1949. Wider application of the electrical method of collecting fish. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 77:49-60.
Willink, P.W. and F.M. Veraldi. 2009. The fishes of Will County, Illinois. Fieldiana: Zoology: New Series, No. 115:1-61. - This publication is an overview of the 112 fish species known from the rivers, creeks, and lakes in the county containing the Electric Barrier. Asian Carp are briefly mentioned, but the publication is really about ALL the fishes and aquatic habitats in the area.
Annin, P. 2006. The Great Lakes water wars. Island Press. An excellent overview of Great Lakes water issues and politics. Not actually about Asian Carp.
Philip Willink’s homepage
http://sites.google.com/a/fieldmuseum.org/pwillink
Edited by walleye express 1/21/2010 8:30 PM
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Member
Posts: 538
| Thanks Dan, what a great read. It is a great perspective on this issue.
Jim O | |
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Big Heads win round one.