Asian Carp DNA in Lake Michigan

This is potentially catastrophic, an environmental disaster.

Asian carp now in lake, DNA samples show

Water samples taken in Lake Michigan reveal that Asian carp have made the jump into the world's largest freshwater system, the Journal Sentinel has learned.

Earlier Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court declined to force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to slam shut two lakeside navigation locks to prevent the super-sized, north-migrating carp from making the jump into the world's largest freshwater system.

The court issued its announcement Tuesday with no explanation.

Now the Army Corps is poised to announce that two "environmental" DNA samples show the presence of leaping silver carp above the O'Brien lock south of downtown Chicago.

One of those samples, taken Dec. 8, reveals the presence of DNA in Lake Michigan.

...The court, meanwhile, has denied a request for a preliminary injunction to shut a lock at Navy Pier and O'Brien lock, the lock that the carp have apparently already bypassed.

While no actual fish have been found above the barrier, biologists say the presence of DNA in lake waters is essentially as good as finding a fish.

The technology can detect even the tiniest trace of fish DNA, and scientists say it indicates a fish has been in the area within the past two days.

...The news did not come as a surprise to Phil Moy, a University of Wisconsin Sea Grant biologist who has co-chaired the panel that helped the Army Corps construct an electric fish barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal about 20 miles downstream from Lake Michigan.

"The fish have probably been up there around the locks for a year," Moy said.

The reason: the Army Corps turned off the power to the barrier system in October of 2008 for about a week's worth of maintenance, and Moy said the fish likely slipped through at that time.

The barrier that was turned off at that time was the first one to operate in the canal, and was not built to operate at level strong enough to repel juvenile fish, which need a bigger jolt.

A second, stronger barrier was subsequently turned on in April 2009, but it was not turned up to a level strong enough to detect small fish until last August.

...Biologists have said all is not lost if a small population of fish make it into Lake Michigan, because it can be very difficult for a breeding population to get established.

"If a few fish get into the Great Lakes, it's not game over," Duane Chapman, a U.S. Geological Survey researcher who has made a career out of studying the fish on the heavily infested Missouri River, said last month.

The fish can grow to 50 pounds and consume up to 20% of their weight in plankton per day - food upon which every other species in a water system either directly or indirectly depends.

Chapman said they do indeed pose a dire threat to fishing and recreational boating on the world's largest freshwater system.

But he said what matters now is how many get into the lake. That will determine whether a breeding population gets established.

...The worry is what the carp will do to Lake Michigan's $7 billion commercial and recreational fishery, as well as the recreational boating industry.

Here is a REAL environmental concern to the world's largest freshwater system.

Where's Al Gore, Mr. Green?

Maybe he's writing a poem about the Asian carp and the death of the Great Lakes. I hope he's doing something.

Where is the outrage? This is REAL. It's not a manufactured, fake science thing like global warming/climate change.

REAL things could be done to prevent the REAL disaster of Asian carp literally consuming the Great Lakes, eating them alive.

I wish there was something I could do about this.

How can I reduce the Asian carp footprint?

Is there a place I can buy Asian carp offsets?