Carp clash

Looking for answers to a threat to Lake Michigan

02/17/2010 10:00 PM

By IAN FULLERTON
Contributing Reporter

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Asian carp jump in the Illinois River. JasonLindsey.com

The potential migration of Asian carp into Lake Michigan by way of Chicago-area canals could have devastating effects on the Great Lakes ecosystem.


But as state and federal environmental agencies begin drafting plans to curb the influx of this invasive species, some Chicagoans are urging officials to tread lightly on the multi-billion dollar freight and tourism industries which rely on the waterways that may eventually deliver the fish.


Three species of Asian carp — bighead, silver and black — have been identified as a budding ecological and economical threat to the Great Lakes. The fish is known for its highly competitive feeding and spawning habits, along with a dangerous tendency to jump out of water when startled by boat motors.


Asian carp were first detected in the upper Illinois River, sixty miles from Lake Michigan, in 2002. In late 2009, scientists retrieved DNA suggesting the presence of silver carp populations much closer to the lake and above the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal barrier, a low-charge electric barricade designed to keep invasive species from spreading to the Chicago and Calumet River channels.


Since then, the Asian Carp Workgroup — made up of representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources — have been pulling together a plan to prevent the carp from making their way closer to the lake.


The Great Lakes system has seen a number of invasive species come and go over the last two centuries, including the round goby, sea lamprey and the infamous zebra mussel, which made its name clogging pipes at power plants and municipal water stations throughout the region.


Asian carp were first imported to the southern U.S. in the early 1970s to control plankton populations in hatchery ponds and improve water quality at sewage treatment plants. Presumably, the carp entered the Mississippi River system following a flood in Arkansas.


Cameron Davis, an advisor for the EPA, said an answer to the Asian carp problem was still forthcoming.


"One of the things we wanted to do with this framework was create a space for everybody to put forward how we can keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes," he said.


The draft plan focuses on a variety of short- and long-term solutions for preventing a carp invasion, including the application of a fish-poisoning toxicant called rotenone — a measure that officials implemented last year in order to quell possible silver carp populations. The plan also looks at concentrated netting operations and the construction of second electrical barrier, a $13 million project.


But the proposal drawing the most attention is one that looks at periodically closing a number of canal locks leading to Lake Michigan, a move some say will cripple the Illinois commercial boating and barge industry. According to the plan, closure at targeted locks and dams could be implemented by the end of April.


The working group met with the public to discuss the plan last Friday. At the meeting, held at the Ralph H. Metcalfe Federal Building, environmental advocates and researchers called on the agencies to keep the carp out of Lake Michigan by any means necessary, while owners and employees of commercial touring companies in Chicago pleaded with officials to take the lock closure option off the table.


Michael Borgstrom, president of Wendella Sightseeing Co., warned that closing the Chicago River Lock would deal a serious blow to Chicago’s $12 billion tourism industry.


"If you take that lock away, whether it’s on a temporary or permanent basis, I’m out of business," he said, "as is every other touring company in Chicago."


Borgstrom questioned the use of DNA retrieval in the workgroup’s research, noting that it was a relatively new and untested method, a point that officials alluded to in the framework presentation. He also warned that closing off the T. J. O’Brien Lock on the Calumet River, travelled heavily by commercial barges, could result in raised prices for commodities such as corn and oil due to increased freight expenses.


The long term goals etched out in the framework plan include research into new barrier technologies, additional rotenone application and increased canal monitoring.


A $1 million feasibility study to be led by the army corps will consider "ecological separation" as a prospective goal in the Great Lakes’ fight against invasive species. This could mean closing off the man-made Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal that has connected the lakes with the Illinois and Mississippi River systems for over 150 years.


"This is an artificial highway for the movement of these species," said Traci Barkley, a water resources scientist with the Prairie Rivers Network.


Barkley said a permanent ecological separation could mean any number of things: from the modification of lock operations, to a complete re-engineering of the entire waterway.


Despite the likely financial hurdles, Barkley said that separation was the only real solution, noting that the problem in the sanitary and ship canal didn’t start and wouldn’t end with the Asian carp.


"It has been a liability for over a hundred years," she said.


With the clock ticking — the current cold weather is better for tracking Asian carp, which tend to swim toward warm water flows in the canals — researchers in the workgroup are eager to start the hunt. According to the framework plan, the group intends to have concept development for the recommended actions completed by early March.


Biologists from various federal and state agencies were slated to begin sampling for silver and bighead carp in rivers and canals on Wednesday.


At the meeting, the proposal garnering the most unanimous support came from John Kindra, the president of a tugboat company on the city’s South Side.


"You’ve got the rotenone," he said, "start wherever you want, and kill them all."


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By Paul Brown from East Side
Posted: 02/18/2010 8:15 PM

This article contains a major factual error. Silver carp did not escape into the Mississippi. It is well documented that the EPA recommended that silver carp be stocked in tertiary sewage treatments ponds. This directive was followed by many towns and it was probably these carp that swam out of sewage treatment ponds into the Mississippi. There was also a lot of Asian carp research done in ponds at SIU.