Asian Carp Still On The March To The Great Lakes

Boating Industry Canada has learned of a new website from Michigan that is part of an effort to maintain and increase awareness of the threat that Asian carp pose to the Great Lakes fishing, boating and tourism industries.

The organization, http://stopthecarpnow.org/ supports the permanent closing of the Chicago Sanitary Canal to stop the spread of these invasive species however, in the Part 1 and Part 2 video clips (on their home page) it notes that there are rumors of Asian Carp being deliberately released into the Great Lakes for good luck.

Asian Carp were brought from China by Arkansas fish farmers in the 1970s to control vegetation and improve water clarity of their ponds.  The Silver Carp and Bighead Carp were released when the Mississippi River flooded the fish ponds.  These invasive species have been working their way up the Mississippi River ever since.

The Silver Carp can grow up to forty pounds and when alarmed by the sounds of motorboats can jump up to ten feet in the air.  That behavior makes this species a real danger to water skiers, jet skiers, and any pleasure boater traveling at speed.  Imagine the injuries caused when a jet skier moving at thirty miles per hour is hit by a twenty five pound Silver Carp.

The Bighead Carp can grow to one hundred pounds and reach over three feet in length.  Both the Silver and Bighead Carp are plankton feeders that are capable of eating up to 20% of the weight daily.  In doing so, they take out the bottom of the food chain for all other native fish species.  There are no natural predators to Asian carp once they reach over ten pounds.  Prolific breeders, Asian Carp can quickly infest a waterway, and become the overwhelmingly dominant species in a relatively short time.

A bill was introduced in Congress to prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes. It would require the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct and expedite a study to determine the best way to permanently separate the Mississippi Basin from Lake Michigan. The permanent separation would allow shipping and boating through, but would prevent the water from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal — and any invasive species living in it — from entering Lake Michigan.

Representatives of the tourism alliance said no hearings have been held on the legislation in either the House or Senate. In the months since, Asian carp eDNA samples have been discovered north of electric barriers designed to stop the carp’s migration, as well as in the Mississippi River in Minneapolis.

Visit their web site and learn what they are saying about the spread of Aisan Carp into Canadian waters. We should all be paying attention to this situation.