From MM:
A $78.5 million dollar federal plan to keep Asian carp from becoming established in the Great Lakes is drawing criticism from diverse groups that say the proposed temporary closure of the locks in Chicago area canals will disrupt the economy without stopping the spread of aquatic invaders.
The Chicago canal system that connects the Mississippi River system to the Great Lakes basin conveys much of the Chicago region’s petroleum, coal, road salt, cement, and iron, according to federal officials, along with 15,000 recreational boats and 900,000 passengers that travel through the locks on the system each year.
The canal system is also thought to be the route through which Asian Carp could enter — or perhaps already has entered — Lake Michigan.
Asian carp have been designated a nuisance fish by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service because they can out compete other fish and dominate ecosystems. The Bighead carp can grow to 100lbs, and the Silverhead carp has been called a “live missile“ because it can jump several feet out of the water and has caused injuries to boaters. Many worry that these Asian carp, which have no natural predators in this region, could destroy Great Lakes fisheries and recreational boating if they become established in the lakes.
The draft Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework, released last week, includes short and long term action items that range from fish herding and poisoning to construction of new barriers, changes to the operations of the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal and long term studies on the movement of invasive species between waterways.
At a hearing on this framework, convened last Friday by the EPA Office of the Great Lakes in Chicago, it became quickly apparent that the locks are the flashpoint in the growing national debate over how to respond to Asian carp.
Dozens of people from the Chicago and Indiana maritime industry — tugboat operators, tourism officials, and others — urged officials not to close the locks. They stressed that their livelihoods are at stake, that even the suggestion of temporary lock closures is endangering jobs in the region. Some also argued that the concerns over carp were vastly exaggerated and based on little information.
A new DNA testing technique called environmental DNA testing or eDNA, extracts fragments of DNA from water samples. EDNA sampling has found genetic material from the carp past the electric barrier and in a harbor of Lake Michigan, but only one actual fish has been found past the barrier, and e-DNA does not tell where the fish are or whether a breeding population has been established.
Some opponents of lock closure pointed out that Asian Carp were once found in Lake Erie, a fact corroborated by Charlie Wooley, deputy regional director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Though it is thought that there are no Asian Carp in Lake Erie now, no environmental DNA testing has been done to establish this. EDNA sampling has only been used around Chicago.
Several also warned that the locks, when closed, do not block the flow of water so fish can cross even when they are closed.
This is how the framework imagines the temporary lock closures:
Periods of non-operation would be synchronized with efforts by other agencies to take steps to suppress, eliminate, or reduce Asian carp populations that may be present in a target area of action. This concept envisions controlling the periods during which navigation traffic could pass through the locks, so that effective measures to attack Asian carp populations that may be present in the waterway could be taken.
The federal carp control framework states that a plan for how to change canal operations to minimize carp movement should be developed by early March for possible implementation by April 30.
Other actions that are either already taking place or are planned to begin by mid-May include using chemicals, electro fishing and netting against the carp in areas where eDNA has been found, more eDNA sampling, and the construction of barriers to keep fish from moving between the Des Plaines River and the Illinois and Michigan Canal into the Chicago waterway system.
The framework also calls for construction of a new electric barrier that will serve as a backup when the existing barrier is undergoing maintenance. Electric barriers combat the movement of the carp by feeding a low level electric current into the water.
John Rogner, assistant director of the Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources, said that members of his staff planned to use the current cold weather to hunt for Asian Carp around the warm water out flows in the canal system. He said that the DNR would hire commercial fishers to assist in finding and killing as many carp as possible.
Long term carp control ideas in the federal plan include developing a commercial market for carp to encourage people to catch them, exploring new types of barriers that use sound, lights and bubbles to repel fish as well as new biological and chemical controls.
Rogner said that his department planned to make sure that Chicago area bait shops are not inadvertently selling Asian carp minnows as bait.
Other long term action items involve investigating the possibility that freighter traffic may be spreading carp; disrupting the known large Asian carp populations in the rivers south of Chicago, and studying the possibility of creating a dead zone in the canal system by creating a low oxygen environment.
National Wildlife Fund regional executive director Andy Buchsbaum said that the federal carp framework was like a list of ingredients without a recipe and he called it “dramatically incomplete.”
“We need a true contingency plan, a lock by lock management plan that combines all these measures,” he said. “The framework proposes no long term solution, it just studies long term solutions.”
“Ecological separation is the clear solution.”
Tom Cmar, attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council said that Army Corps statements about the economic impacts of lock closure have indicated that the Corps is prejudiced against the possibility of permanent lock closure.
Ecological separation is only permanent reliable way to control the spread of carp, Cmar said. “We should not assume that we have no choice but to rely on a 19th century canal system.”
States, divided by their economic interests, continue to fight over how to best manage the carp.
The governor of Indiana announced on Feb. 12 that his state has decided to oppose the closure of the Chicago area locks. According to Rogner of the Illinois DNR, two of the five Chicago area canals that need to be modified are in Indiana.
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said that partial temporary lock closures are not acceptable and vowed to continue to fight for total closure.
“I am not moved that this is a solution at all. If this course of action is to be followed, there is little to stop the certain infestation and ruination of the Great Lakes by Asian carp. Further study and open locks is unacceptable.” Van Hollen said in a statement. “I have instructed our team here at Justice that our participation in the litigation will continue. The Great Lakes are not a koi pond for six foot flying fish that eat half their body weight every day.”
The state of Michigan, together with Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania haverenewed a recently rejected request that the US Supreme Court grant an immediate order to close the locks of the Chicago waterway system until a method can be found to ensure that Asian carp don’t travel through the canal and enter Lake Michigan.
The Supreme Court has not yet indicated when or if it will consider the request.
Michigan Attorney General, Mike Cox, who is running for governor as a Republican, is using the carp fight to slam Obama.
Cox told FOX that the federal framework proves that President Obama will “do anything to protect the narrow interests of his home state of Illinois, even if it means destroying Michigan’s economy.”
Obama has dedicated more for the Great Lakes cleanup than any president. This years budget included $475 million budgeted for a range of projects including controlling invasive species, and the president has requested an additional $300 million for Great Lakes projects in the 2011 budget.
Photo via Flickr: kate.gardiner
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