I know. It’s a dumb question. Yet, this is the exact strategy the federal government seems intent on pursuing when it come to Asian carp. Only there’s more at stake than having to watch the NFL on something less than high-def next fall. Screw this up and we could literally devastate:
• The $7 billion dollar Great Lakes sport and commercial fishing industry that employs an estimated 800,000 people
• The $8 to $10 billion Great Lakes recreational boating economy
• The largest freshwater basin in the entire world
Bighead carp
Photo courtesy David Riecks, UIUC/IL-IN Sea Grant
Big, bad and ugly
There are several flavors of Asian carp swimming around in U.S. waters, but it’s the Bighead and Silver carp that pose the biggest threat right now. Ugly enough to star in Clash of the Titans, these fish are eating machines, packing in up to 40% of their weight every day. Bigheads can grow to five feet and more than 100 pounds.
They eat plant and animal plankton and, get this, the eggs of other fish. That means they can rapidly crowd out every other species in a body of water. Picture you and a couple friends stranded on an island with a busload of 1,000-pound Mike Tysons. Who do you think is going to end up at the top of that food chain?
Did I mention that they reproduce like certain well-known athletes, government servants and other ne’r-do-wells? Asian carp can live as long as 20 years, spawning several times a year, potentially giving birth to a million offspring in the process.
Carp v. people
Other than a Northern that once chomped on a brother-in-law’s hand right after he released the unappreciative brute, Silver carp are the only other freshwater fish I know of that pose an actual physical danger to people. They become agitated when boat motors are around, jumping into the air and smacking boaters in their pie holes. Reported injuries include cuts, bruises, black eyes, broken bones and even concussions. No fatalities – yet. The photos and videos are incredible.
Asian carp were accidentally introduced into the southern Mississippi River basin several decades ago and have gradually spread into the Missouri and Illinois river systems, traveling relentlessly toward the Great Lakes. The last leg of their journey has been through the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal – the manmade channel that connects the Mississippi and Great Lakes basins.
Predictions of what would happen if they ever reached the Great Lakes have been, in a word, dire:
• “Asian Carp are a significant threat to the Great Lakes.” EPA
• “Asian carp could have a devastating effect on the Great Lakes ecosystem.” Fish and Wildlife Service
• "If the carp invade the Great Lakes, it will change them forever." Great Lakes United
The rest are just as gloomy, but the clearest comes from the Asian Carp Workgroup made up of the EPA, Fish and Wildlife Service, Army Corps of Engineers, Coast Guard, and Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which just last month concluded, “The potential impact of Asian carp on the Great Lakes’ sport and commercial fishing industry can be seen now along the Mississippi River basin, where in just a few short years following introduction of Asian carp into an area, many commercial fishing locations have been abandoned, as native fish have nearly disappeared from the catch, replaced by Asian carp.”
Not an attractive prospect for the trout, salmon, walleyes, smallmouth bass, perch, and other species – some 80 of them listed as threatened or endangered – in the Great Lakes.
A legacy of failure
For at least the last eight years, federal and state authorities have worked to stop the fish from entering the Great Lakes. They’ve commissioned studies, issued news releases announcing “emergency action,” built electronic barriers and spent buckets of tax dollars.
Their efforts – however well-intentioned – have failed miserably. In January, Asian carp DNA was found in Lake Michigan near Chicago.
The State of Michigan asked the U.S. Supreme Court to order the immediate closure of the locks on the Chicago canal. Other Great Lakes states and Ontario, Canada joined the request, which was rejected by the high court.
Chicago, supported by the Obama administration, claims closing the locks would devastate the city’s economy, which relies on the canal to move goods and sightseers. That claim is being challenged by transportation experts at Wayne State University who say it is “seriously exaggerated.”
Asked about the discovery of Asian carp DNA in Lake Michigan, Major General John W. Peabody, Commander of the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, said recently, "We feel confident that despite this new information, we can still win this fight.”
Please. “Fight” isn’t what I would call what they’re doing. What they’re doing is standing outside the ring waiting to drag their unconscious boxer under the ropes once he’s been KO’d. What they’re doing is stepping up their current measures – netting, poisoning, electric barriers, DNA testing – measures that have already failed.
Don’t let the locks hit you in the butt
We don’t need more of the same. We need the locks closed right now, before it’s too late. As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has already concluded about these monsters, “Once in Lake Michigan, this invasive species could access many new tributaries connected to the Great Lakes. These fish aggressively compete with native commercial and sport fish for food. They are well suited to the water temperature, food supply, and lack of predators of the Great Lakes and could quickly become the dominant species. Once in the lake, it would be very difficult to control them.”
And then we need to push to permanently sever the artificial link we’ve created between the two largest freshwater systems in the world – the Mississippi and the Great Lakes – a link that Mother Nature never intended to exist.
Today, the Supreme Court reconsiders its earlier ruling in light of the new DNA evidence indicating that Asian carp have already breached the ramparts and reached Lake Michigan. Let’s hope they come to their senses.
What you can do
• Write your congressman and senators and urge them to support legislation to close the locks
• If you live in Great Lakes state, let your Attorney General know you support your state’s efforts to close the locks
• Support organizations such as the Alliance for the Great Lakes, Great Lakes Environmental Law Center, HealthyLakes.org, National Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation and others
• Write to Maj. Gen. John Peabody, U.S. Army Engineer Division, Great Lakes & Ohio River Division, 550 Main Street, Room 10032, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-3222 and urge him to close the locks
• Write to Nancy Sutley, Chair, Council on Environmental Quality, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington DC, 20500 and urge her to support closure of the locks
Sixty or so years ago, Lake Michigan was an ecosystem in perfect balance. Now it’s something out of a Tim Burton movie – a freak show of sea lampreys, gobies, zebra mussels, and some 180 other invasive species. Enough is enough.
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