It seems that no amount of concern from environmental groups and fishermen could keep the feared Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. The state of Illinois is set to confirm today that one of the monster invasive species, a Bighead variety, has been caught in Lake Calumet, six miles on the Chicago side of Lake Michigan and past barriers designed to stop them.
It's unclear at this point just how the terrible fish made it this far, but it begs the question, what do we do now?
The blame game is bound to happen first. DNA evidence late last year showed that Asian carp had made it past a Mickey Mouse electric barrier set up by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers in a canal system connecting the Great Lakes to the Illinois River, where the invasive species has already taken over.
Several Great Lakes states called for a temporary closure of Chicago-area locks while more permanent solutions were sought. The request was opposed by the state of Illinois and denied by President Obama, a former U.S. senator from the state. The waters past the barricade were poisoned, and lots of dead fish were found, but just one Asian carp.
Now there's physical evidence that the lakes are infested. But does one fish mean there are more? It's likely.
“Asian carp are like cockroaches," said Henry Henderson, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Midwest program, in a statement. "When you see one, you know its accompanied by many more you don't see. Now we can stop arguing about whether the fish are in Chicago’s canals and start moving as quickly as possible toward permanently separating the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds. We just cannot wait five to seven years for the Army Corps of Engineers to complete its own studies before deciding to solve this problem.”
Experts have warned that the Asian carp could take over the Great Lakes fishery, valued at up to $7 billion, beating out native species for food and habitat. It's happened in the Mississippi River and other waterways that the invasive fish has reached since the 1990s.
The Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee says the Bighead carp in Lake Calumet (pictured above) was caught Tuesday by a commercial fisherman being paid by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to sample the area in search of the feared fish. It measured 34.6 inches long and weighed 19.6 pounds, according to a statement. Asian carp can reach up to 100 pounds and make powerful leaps out of the water, even injuring boaters.
While the BP oil spill has dominated headlines in recent months, the Asian carp story has slipped from the radar. Now's the time to get it back on the front page. We can't blame BP for this problem, but we can implement response plans that have been set up to help contain and control this fish.
We can look further into ways to make the best of the situation, like catching and eating these suckers. And we can use this opportunity, hopefully, to put in more safeguards to prevent the further spread of invasive species. Ballast water from oceangoing ships is still bringing unwanted stowaways into the lakes. There's a global economy out there, as my high school teacher used to say. Maybe invasive species are par for the course. And fish aren't the only ones to worry about. Take phragmites, the emerald ash borer, and others.
This is an opportunity for change, as Obama might say. This find should smack our leaders upside the head, just like an Asian carp in the Illinois River.
Read more of OnEarth's Asian carp coverage.
--Image courtesy Illinois DNR via AsianCarp.org
I am embarrassed, devistated, and angry at what we've done to this earth that we are leaving to our children and grandchildren.
Why are we being invaded by Asian anything? Kudzo covers everything from Richmond to the Northern Neck of the Chesapeake Bay. Asian beetles have taken over every house in our neighborhood. The pest control people tell me that for every Asian beetle (looks like an orange ladybug, but bites) you see, there's a thousand in your home that you can't see.
Now there's Asian Carp in the Great Lakes. All three of these Asian creatures and flora are invasive, kill off the natural and native creatures and flora and we just live with it as the government worries about bailing out banks that rape us with fees, yet we get no bail-out, we get bankrupt, forclosed, no money to pay the bills.
The Golden Rain Tree, brought to America by Thomas Jefferson, also a very invasive tree that is illegal in several states.
Arizona used to be the place to go when you had respitory problems, but everyone brought the same flora that caused their maladies and created the same environment. Don't go to Arizona if you have respitory problems.
Everyone is blaming the government for the levies breaking in New Orleans. Every year the state is granted millions of dollars and instead of shoring up the levies (knowing that they couldn't survive a catagory 3 hurricane). Deltas were filled in, houses built there and the incoming storm waters had no where to go. The same was done in Tennessee, deltas filled in and houses built on a place that nature created to keep the surges out of the mainlands.
Now we have oil gushing by the millions of gallons into the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf may not survive this onslaught of the oil devestating the eco-system of the sea. We witness birds and turtles covered with oil and dead, but they don't mention that the reefs and all of the fish, eels and other animals who call the reefs home are also being covered with oil. The LA Judge who reversed the moratorium on oil drilling has been discovered to own stock in the oil industry. How can we allow such blatent misuse of office?
Our environment is being destroyed by those who are getting older and it seems that they have no concern for what they're doing to the earth, what we're doing to our children's futures.
My daughter is a student at Penn State and she's taking courses on social situations. Children today worry about nuclear attacks, war in our country, oil spills that ruin the environment (the Valdeze spill in Alaska hasn't been cleared up after more than 10 years! Our children will reap the devistation we have left behind.
I think we should not allow anymore import of insects, plants or animals and anyone bringing these items into the country illegally should be punished to the full extent of the law. But it seems that we tread water when it comes to enforcing laws on visitors and immigrants to this country.
Asian Carp in the Great Lakes. What is next? What will we do to this land we live upon and will leave to our children?
I don't know the answers, but it seems that the older generations don't care what they're doing, they won't be around to deal with their grand mistakes.
My son is in the Army and wonders, after a year in Afghanistan, why are we there? Everyone was afraid to use their weapons against the Afganis, afraid to be court martialed because of shooting someone who is working for our side today, but was fighting for the Taliban yesterday.
What will become of an area that is the oldest, most valued place on Earth - they say that Iraq is where the Garden of Eden existed, Babylon, and we allowed the rape of museums in Iraq that held answers to our origins.
I am ashamed to tell my children that they are going to reap the results of our misuse and abuse of the Earth, have at it!
Changes are needed in all aspects of the country's laws and regulations so we can save what's left of our country's resources.
Are we EVER going to learn???
How about if we create a huge hunger for dishes made of Asian carp? Let's overfish the monsters. Quick, let's all come up with fantastic recipes, an intense PR campaign, get all the chefs involved and the sports fishermen too.
One man's junk is another man's treasure; one man's weed is another man's salad; one mans' junk species is another man's gorumet dinner!
Kitty Beer
author of the new novel on climate change, Human Scale
kittybeer.net
planetprospect.blogspot.com
Really, my hearts go out to all of the creatures silently suffering and dying from the BP oil spill. The ocean is the heart of the life of the earth. We must save it or the entire planet will be nothing more than an old fester lifeless world. This is the domino effect we should all fear more than the worst of wars or plagues of mankind. Moreover, when I hear the initials BP it is always gonna be synonymous with “only the worst oil spill disaster in the history of the world”. What they've been doing recently was so impractical and disappointing, one is that they are going to pay $20 billion to those drastically affected by the oil spill-- what do they expect??no lives of those died creatures will be retrieve.