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Asian Carp

June 24, 2010 by · Comments Off on Asian Carp 

Asian CarpAsian Carp:Chicago – An Asian carp were first found beyond the electric barrier designed to keep voracious invasive species in the Great Lakes State and federal officials said Wednesday, prompting renewed calls for quick action to stop the progress.

Commercial fishermen landed the 3-feet long, 20-pound bighead carp in Lake Calumet on the South Side of Chicago, about six miles from Lake Michigan, according to the Regional Coordinating Committee for Asian carp.

Authorities said they need more information to determine the significance of the finding.

“The threat to the Great Lakes depends on how many have access to the lakes, depending on how many are in the channel of Chicago at this time,” said John Rogner, Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources of Illinois.

But environmental groups said the discovery left no doubt that the Asian carp has broken barriers others designed to prevent migration from the Mississippi River system to the Great Lakes and shows that the government must act more quickly.

“If the capture of this fish alive not confirm the urgency of this problem, nothing will,” said Andy Buchsbaum, director of the National Wildlife Federation Great office in Lagos.

Scientists and fishermen fear that if the tent is set on the lakes, they could starve out the most popular species of sport and ruin the region $ 7,000,000,000 of the fishing industry. Asian carp can grow to 4 feet and 100 pounds and eat 40 percent of their body weight per day.

Rogner, the Department of Natural Resources, estimated that the carp males was 3-4 years old. He was captured alive, but has since been slaughtered and sent to the University of Illinois, to determine if it was artificially raised or bred naturally.

The fish was sexually mature, but the Calumet lake conditions are not conducive to reproduction because the water is too quiet, Rogner said. Still, the lake is the ideal living environment for fish because it is quiet and close to a river system, he added.

“It fits the model to a” T “she said.” They can concentrate on that area. ”

Authorities said electrofishing and netting used to remove any Asian carp lake.

They have been migrating through the Mississippi and Illinois rivers to the Great Lakes for decades.

There are no physical connections between the lakes and the Mississippi basin. Over a century ago, engineers of them linked with a network of existing canals and rivers to reverse the flow of the Chicago River and keep the waste flowing into Lake Michigan, Chicago, who used to drink water.

Two electrical barriers, which emit pulses of the tent to scare away or give a shock if they come, are a last line of defense. The Army corps plans to complete another year.

“Is it disturbing? Extraordinarily. Is not it amazing?” No, “said Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, the discovery of the tent beyond the barriers.

He said the capture highlights the need to finally break the link between the Mississippi River and Great Lakes. The Army Corps of Engineers is studying alternatives, but said that the review will take years.

“The invaders will stop at nothing less than bricks and mortar, and time is short to get that protection in place,” said Brammeier.

In Michigan, officials reiterated their demand to close two blocks in the way of transmission of Chicago, which could provide a path to Lake Michigan. U.S. Supreme Court twice rejected the state’s request to order the locks closed, but Attorney General Mike Cox said he was considering legal action over.

“The responsibility for this economic and ecological potential disaster rests solely with President Obama,” said Cox. “He should act immediately, ordering the locks closed and the production of an emergency plan to stop Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan.”

An industry coalition based in Chicago called Unlock Our Jobs said the discovery of a tent alone does not justify the closing of the locks. Doing so could damage the economy of the region and kill job without ensuring that the tent could not reach the lakes, said spokesman Mark Biel.

“A few isolated incidents of Asian carp in this small section of the Illinois waterway does not impose barriers have failed,” said Biel, also executive director of the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois. “The controls of river regulation and barriers should be explored before the closing of permanent blockade is even considered.”

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