Asian Carp Problem For Lake Michigan
Hey all i dont know if you all heard about a future problem our great lakes are going to have is the Asian Carp. Army Corps have found the asian carp dna up in the canel that connects into lake michigan. I think fishermen and fisherladies need to do something to help stop this problem. Heres an artical about the problem.
\.Illinois to step up fight against Asian carp
February 9, 2010 7:38 PM | No Comments
Fisheries biologists will begin another targeted removal of Asian carp from Chicago waterways next week, using nets, electrofishing and possibly another chemical poisoning to stop advancement of the invasive species into Lake Michigan, an Illinois wildlife official told a congressional panel today in Washington.
John Rogner, assistant director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, told members of a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee that Illinois is stepping up its defenses of the Great Lakes by going after Asian carp suspected to already be beyond the underwater electric barriers near Romeoville.
Rogner said his department will begin working with commercial fishermen to harvest Asian carp down the Illinois River to alleviate pressure on the electric barriers, improve fish tracking methods using tagging and sonar, and explore ways to enhance the commercial appeal of Asian carp.
Rogner, whose agency has battled the advance of Asian carp for more than 15 years, also appealed for continued support and collaboration with the federal government and wildlife agencies in other Upper Midwest states.
"This is a problem that's not going to be solved by one state or one agency," Rogner told the panel. "We believe our Great Lakes is stronger when we work together."
The hearing, which came a day after a White House meeting involving governors from around the Great Lakes, is the latest in a series of meetings in Chicago and Washington to deal with the emerging Asian carp threat.
Also Tuesday, the House Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment heard from environmental advocates, scientists and state officials from Michigan and Wisconsin who renewed their calls to permanently close navigational locks in Chicago-area waterways, sealing off the most direct route for invasive species between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds. Critics say such a move would devastate the region's barge and cargo shipping industry.
"The lakes can't heal themselves. The native species can't defend themselves," committee chair Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., said. "It's us who are the custodians and can take these actions."
--Joel Hood
Hopefully after reading this you realize how serious this problem is.
Asian Carp Problem for Lake
I live in West-Central Illinois, close to the Illinois River at Beardstown. Believe me, you don't want the Asian Carp in Lake Michigan and then all the Great Lakes and all the tributaries. They are dangerous to boating and have broken the food chain in the Illinois River. The food chain is built on the Gizzard Shad. They compete with the native Gizzard Shad for food and have almost done away with them. The bait shops in the river valley used to buy shad to sell shad gut and cut shad for catfish bait. The fishermen can't catch enough shad now to supply the bait shops to sell them.
Commercial fisherman harvest literally thousands of pounds of these Asian Carp and can't make a dent in the population of them.
Now the Asian Carp are in the Mississippi River also.
When will this country learn, we don't want anything imported into this country that wasn't here in the first place.
