DNR Asian Carp Lake Calumet

Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee to Begin
Intensive Monitoring in Lake Calumet in Response to
Environmental DNA Results

CHICAGO- The Asian Carp Regional Coordinating
Committee (ACRCC) today announced intensive
monitoring action will begin in Lake Calumet and
surrounding areas on Monday, August 1st, after three
consecutive rounds of Environmental DNA (eDNA)
sampling yielded positive results for Asian carp DNA.
The ACCRC’s 2011 Monitoring and Rapid Response Plan
calls for a Level 1 response to three consecutive
rounds of positive eDNA results in one area. While
Lake Calumet is regularly monitored for the presence
of Asian carp, a level 1 response adds commercial
fishing crews as well as additional electrofishing
boats, larger sweeping nets, called seines, and
additional sampling gear to the area during an
intensive four day fishing period.

At present, eDNA evidence cannot verify whether live
Asian carp are present, whether the DNA may have come
from a dead fish, or whether water containing Asian
carp DNA may have been transported from other
sources, such as bilge water. The monitoring
response is designed to intensify resources and use
the best available technology to search for live
Asian carp in the Lake Calumet area. Eight previous
monitoring trips to Lake Calumet since March 2011
have identified 4,500 fish and indicated no Asian
carp presence.

“Finding three or more consecutive sets of positive
eDNA samples in the same area triggers us to use
significant resources to try to find a physical
specimen,” said John Goss, Director of the White
House Council on Environmental Quality. “Through the
ACRCC’s comprehensive Asian carp control strategy,
we remain vigilant both in monitoring to keep Asian
carp out of the Great Lakes, and also in
investigating all possible sources of Asian carp DNA
to minimize the human transfer element such as people
unknowingly using Asian carp as bait or other
activities that could transfer them to the Great
Lakes.”

Biologists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Illinois
Department of Natural Resources will be on the water
with commercial fishermen and biologists from
Southern Illinois University and the Illinois Natural
History Survey beginning Monday August 1st through
Thursday August 4th. The crews will lay various net
types throughout the Lake Calumet area, including
half-mile long seine nets to sweep large portions of
the area. Electrofishing boats will sample fish in
shoreline areas and will be used to drive fish
towards the nets. Commercial and private vessel
traffic will be able to proceed with minimal
interference from the monitoring activity.

Three separate eDNA samples sets were taken at Lake
Calumet between June 15 and July 19 and revealed 11
positives (all Silver carp DNA) out of 328 samples
taken. eDNA sampling details are below. Full eDNA
sampling details can be found at the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers website at
http://www.lrc.usace.army.mil/

Date sampled Site Sampled # Samples Collected
Date Reported Silver Carp Results Bighead Carp
Results
15 June Lake Calumet and Little Calumet River 114
14 July 7 positive (all from Lake Calumet); 107
negative Zero positive; 114 negative
12 July Lake Calumet and Little Calumet River 100
21 July 2 positive (all from Lake Calumet); 98
negative Zero positive; 100 negative
19 July Lake Calumet and Little Calumet River 114
29 July 2 positive (1 from Lake Calumet, 1 from
Little Calumet River); 112 negative Zero positive;
114 negative
TOTALS Lake Calumet and Little Calumet River 328
N/A 11 positive (10 from Lake Calumet, 1 from
Little Calumet River); 317 negative Zero positive;
328 negative


Asian carp monitoring and response activities are
Federally funded through the Great Lakes Restoration
Initiative and Federal agency budgets. The ACRCC is
following a set of protocols in the 2011 Monitoring
and Rapid Response Plan (MRRP) which outline specific
circumstances that would trigger one of three
different response levels. The MRRP can be found on
the ACRCC’s website at www.asiancarp.org.

Threshold Response Level Triggered Response
Actions
• Three consecutive eDNA sampling events at one
location yielding positive results for Asian carp DNA
-or-
• Credible observation of Live Asian carp 1 •
2-4 electrofishing boats and crews
• 1-2 commercial fishing boats and crews
• Use of seine netting
• Duration: 2-3 consecutive days
• Capture of single live Bighead or Silver carp 2
• 4-6 electrofishing boats and crews
• 3-5 commercial fishing boats and crews
• Use of commercial seine nets
• Duration: up to 10 days
• Capture of 2 or more Live Asian carp at one
location
-or-
• Credible observation of two or more live Asian carp
at one location
3 • Initiate Level 2 response
• Possible use of fish toxins


The threat from Asian carp has generated an urgent
and committed government response. In addition to
aggressive monitoring and sampling, the ACRCC has
proactively worked to contain Asian carp in the
Chicago Area Waterway System by constructing a third
electric barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship
Canal, constructing a 13-mile physical barrier along
the Des Plaines River to prevent fish bypass during
flooding, and researching control technology and
methods that can be tailored and applied to control
Asian carp.

The Obama Administration also remains focused on
preventing Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes
through all possible pathways. The ACRCC released an
“Other Pathways” study in December 2010 to identify
and close off other potential aquatic pathways where
Asian carp could enter the Great Lakes basin;
constructed a 1,500 foot fish barrier fence at Eagle
Marsh in Indiana to prevent fish from migrating from
the Wabash River into the Great Lakes watershed; and
continues to develop the Great Lakes Mississippi
River Interbasin Study to assess threats throughout
the basin, including in the CAWS.

The Obama Administration formed the Asian Carp
Regional Coordinating Committee in 2009 to ensure
coordinated and comprehensive action against Asian
carp. The ACRCC is led by the White House Council on
Environmental Quality (CEQ) and includes the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of
Transportation and all eight Great Lakes states, as
well as the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, the
Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater
Chicago, and the City of Chicago.

For more information on the 2011 MRRP, 2010 actions,
or to view the entire 2011 Asian Carp Control
Strategy Framework, visit: www.asiancarp.org.