No Carp Found in Lake Michigan on Day 1 of Search by Dan Egan
gengberg March 9th, 2010
No carp found in Chicago canal on day 1 of searchBy Dan Egan of the Journal Sentinel
Great Lakes, Great Peril
Special Section: This series will periodically examine challenges facing the Great Lakes in what experts forecast will be the century of water.
The first morning of a two-week fishing expedition on the Chicago canal system yielded no Asian carp.
Fishing crews are on the water to get a better idea of how many Asian carp may have breached an electric barrier that is considered the last best line of defense between the super-sized jumping fish and Lake Michigan.
In November, “environmental” DNA tests indicated the fish had bypassed the $9 million barrier, located about 20 miles south of Lake Michigan. Subsequent DNA tests showed evidence that the fish have made it all the way to the open water of Lake Michigan, although no actual fish have been found above the barrier.
The plan is to use fish-shocking devices to try to herd Asian carp into a system of nets. Crews will be targeting the carp-friendly warm waters near discharge pipes at industrial facilities along the canal.
People will be paying keen attention to what they find, because until an actual fish is landed above the barrier, some will continue to doubt how close the fish actually are to Lake Michigan.
That became apparent Wednesday at a public hearing held in Michigan on the federal government’s new plan to keep the fish from colonizing Lake Michigan.
That plan calls for spending tens of millions of dollars on new barriers along the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal as well as millions of dollars on fish poisoning programs and millions more for research into how to better control carp populations.
The most contentious element of the plan calls for looking at periodic closings of two navigation locks near the Lake Michigan shoreline.
Those who rely on the locks to move their tour boats, barges and recreational vessels between Lake Michigan and the Chicago canal system say even a part-time closing will deal a brutal blow to their businesses.
Those people turned out in force at a public hearing in Chicago last week, and they also dominated the Michigan hearing Wednesday.
“Closing the locks in the Chicago area will not stop the carp, but it will destroy the Chicago tour boat industry,” said Robert Agra, a Chicago cruise line operator.
But Susan Harley of the environmental group Clean Water Action said a lock closing is the best option until a more permanent barrier between Lake Michigan and the Chicago canal system can be built, something the Army Corps of Engineers intends to study.
“Protecting the narrow shipping interests cannot outweigh protecting the Great Lakes from an economic and ecologic disaster,” she said.
Others focused on the idea that the DNA tests - and not actual nets full of fish - were driving decisions that could put them out of business.
But the lack of fish doesn’t surprise Lindsay Chadderton, a scientist who has helped conduct the DNA testing at the University of Notre Dame.
He said the tests are so sensitive that they can find evidence of fish where traditional survey tools such as nets and electroshocking fail.
“The simple reality is we can detect fish at lower levels than standard tools are able to,” Chadderton said at the sometimes-testy hearing.
