New Tools Debut in Asian Carp Fight Just as the Fish Get Reinforcements

Asian carp caught in Missouri this week is one for the record books [Courtesy of Missouri Department of Conservation]

This week the State and Federal agencies took press for a boat ride to show off the shiny new toys available for the ongoing battle to rebuff Asian carp: underwater cameras, nets with super-tight holes, and a big-honking water gun. They are all part of a $7 million program to bolster the electric barriers put in place by the Army Corps of Engineers near Lockport, which are the main line of defense. Officials say that they are still pretty sure that the barriers are keeping the most storied swimming menace since Jonah’s whale at bay, but the New York Times and a leviathan netted in the Ozarks make clear what is at stake if they are wrong.

While DNA testing on our side of the barrier showing that carp have evaded its charge have been controversial, there is no debate about the results of monitoring on the other side of the barrier, where it is clear that the barbarians are at the gate. According to the AP:

“Since fishing resumed following the spring ice thaw on the waterways, crews have landed 9,862 Asian carp below the barrier -- already exceeding the 6,082 caught in 2010, said Chris McCloud, spokesman for the Illinois DNR.”

That’s 103 tons of silver and big head carp since March.

A Chicago News Cooperative article that ran in the New York Times implies that the history of the electric barrier itself shows that the Corps’ efforts may be missing the bigger picture. It was originally built to stop the movement of another invasive species: the round goby. We have covered the mess that millions of these bug-eyed fish have made in Lake Michigan. The barrier was conceived to keep them from doing similar damage to America’s inland waterways, but did not come into operation quickly enough to stop them. Nonetheless, wildlife officials quickly gravitated to the concept to rebuff silver and bighead carp moving through the same canals as the gobies had exited.

That detail is not lost on Great Lakes advocates who have long noted that the focus on Asian carp ignores the other plants, animals and viruses moving through the Chicago waterways. There are numerous studies investigating the possibilities of replacing the electric barrier with something physical to finally end the movement of all invasive species between the Mississippi River system and Great Lakes (and the annual multimillion dollar price tag that comes with the problem). We just hope that the talk turns to action faster than the carp can swim. Judging from the record-breaking 106 pound monster caught in Missouri this week, we will need more than water guns to fend off these brutes.

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By JoshMogerman in News on May 28, 2011 2:00 PM

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Great Lakes Fisherman

There are still many questions that need to be answered regarding the Asian Carp in order to separate fact from fiction and claims by politicians and special interest environmental groups whose agendas are sustained by preaching CarpAgeddon. However, one of those questions is not the effectiveness of stopping Asian Carp migration by closing Chicago's waterways by sealing locks or building dams.

We already have plenty of data regarding the effectiveness of hydrological separation in stopping Asian Carp migration. For example, Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee is hydrologically separated from the nearby Mississippi River. Yet Reelfoot Lake has a robust Asian Carp population. As you reported, recently a record 106 pound Big Head Asian Carp was caught in Lake Of The Ozarks in Missouri which also has a robust Asian Carp population. Lake Of The Ozarks is nowhere near any rivers containing Asian Carp and is blocked by a substantial dam. On a side note, sport fishing in either of those lakes, and on the Illinois River, has not been effected by the presence of Asian Carp and there is no proven scientific evidence that Asian Carp will ultimately pose any significant threat the Great Lakes ecology.

Furthermore, in Illinois Asian Carp have been found in two pools of the Hennepin Canal above two locks that have been sealed for decades from the Illinois River. Throughout the Midwest there have been confirmed reports that Asian Carp have been found in lakes and ponds that are in no way connected to rivers containing Asian Carp.

The truth is there is already considerable evidence supporting the fact that closing locks or severing waterways in Chicago is neither an effective or permanent solution to stopping the migration of Asian Carp into Lake Michigan just as we know that hydrological separation has not stopped the migration of Quagga and Zebra Mussels. Anyone claiming otherwise is either ignorant of the facts or intentionally misleading the public.

Anyone who has bothered to read the full report published by the Army Corps of Engineers regarding the effectiveness of the electric barriers near Chicago would be impressed by the thoroughness of their studies and the effectiveness of the electric barriers in stopping Asian Carp. The electric barriers proved to be 100% effective in stopping Carp six inches and longer and further studies have shown that a modest increase in barrier voltage would repel the smallest fish as well. The Corps is currently verifying the safety of increasing the voltage and will run further tests to verify the effectiveness of increased voltage in repelling small fish. That work will be completed long before small juvenile Asian Carp reach the barrier location.

The truth is that closing the Chicago waterways would be an ineffective and prohibitively costly 19th century solution to a 21st century problem. There are smarter 21st century solutions to stopping an Asian Carp migration through Chicago's waterways that would not require closing a strategic recreational and commercial waterway and adversely affecting thousands of recreational boaters and industries though out the Midwest.