Can We Keep the Asian Carp Out of Lake Michigan?

What’s the problem?

The Asian carp is a big ugly fish often weighing more than 100 pounds and over four feet long. Two species of Asian carp -- the bighead and silver -- were imported from China by catfish farmers in South of the US in the 1970's to remove algae and other materials out of their ponds. During floods in the early 1990s, many of the catfish farm ponds overflowed, and the Asian carp were released into local waterways that ultimately made it in the Mississippi River basin.

Asian carp have since traveled north hundreds of miles. They have recently been found in the Illinois River, which connects the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan. Due to their large size and rapid rate of reproduction, the Asian carp could pose a significant threat to Lake Michigan and the Great Lakes ecosystem. Researchers fear that Asian carp would disrupt the food chain of native fish of the Great Lakes because they consume huge amounts of food.

To prevent the carp from entering the Great Lakes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other state and federal agencies are working together to install a permanent electric barrier between the fish and Lake Michigan. In addition to the barrier, a poison was poured into the Sanitary and Ship Canal that connects the Illinois River and Lake Michigan to kill all the fish for 6 miles below the barrier to prevent the carp from getting through the barrier until the electricity could be turned on.

It’s hard to say whether the barrier will work. Some Bighead carp DNA was already detected recently on the lake side of the barrier, and some environmentalists warned it may already be too late to keep the carp out.

The State of Michigan is afraid that if the Asian carp get into Lake Michigan, it will destroy the 7 billion dollar recreational fishing and tourist industry. The Michigan Attorney General is planning to file a lawsuit in federal court, and maybe even directly in the U.S. Supreme Court. The Attorney General could claim the Asian carp is a public nuisance threatening recreational activities and commercial fishing throughout the Great Lakes, and that current efforts to contain the fish are inadequate. The lawsuit could try to force the State of Illinois to undertake increased monitoring of the carp in order to make sure that officials know where the fish are. They also may ask the court to seal the canal in order to allow a permanent separation of the Mississippi River system and the Great Lakes so that the fish never make it into the Great Lakes.

What are the consequences of closing the canal?

Shippers have said closing the canal leading to the lakes could be disastrous for them. Seventeen tons of coal, steel, chemicals, and other commodities are shipped through the canal every year, says Lynn Muench with the American Waterways Operators. "If you moved all those to rail cars, you'd have almost 300 thousand more rail cars coming through Chicago, Muench says. "If you moved everything by truck, you'd increase the truck traffic in Chicago by one-point-29 million more trucks.

What’s the right answer?

Closing the Canal permanently seems like a drastic action, especially given the other consequences to the economy. However, there does not seem to be any other solution for keeping the carp out of the Great Lakes. Also, I agree that it is important to keep the carp out of the Great Lakes because they were never meant to be there and would have a devastating consequence for the natural fish population of the Great Lakes. I favor a temporary closure of the canal and efforts to study whether there are ways to eliminate the carp population from the Mississippi River. Some have suggested that the carp could be harvested and shipped to China, where they are considered a delicacy.