Been a heck of a week. I went "lobbying" for the first time on Wednesday for a Sierra Club Lobbying Day and spoke to four Lansing representatives about energy efficiency legislation and an offshore wind power permitting framework.
I admit, I was pretty terrified, but once I got in there and started talking to the representatives or their staffers it became pretty old hat. A lot of the same stuff I'd been talking about for months. Michigan is steeped in the most Republican legislature it's had since times unknown, but found the reps to be wonderfully willing to speak with us. While we didn't always agree on the issues, I was impressed that they took the time to even meet. They didn't have to. Some didn't bother.
Friday morning I attended a town hall meeting on the impending Asian Carp disaster for the Great Lakes. Scientists, cities, commercial fishermen, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Great Lakes fisheries are bracing for the impact of the Asian Carp.
I couldn't tell if the guy from the Department of Natural Resources was a little choked up about the topic, or if he was just uncomfortable talking in front of an audience of 40 people, but he enumerated the ways the DNR is preparing to stave off an invasion of what he called "world class waterways." They're even stocking up on rotenone, a toxin that targets fish, in case they need to nuke an entire waterway to keep it clear of the invader.
Michiganders are taking this issue very seriously. Shutting down the threat of Asian Carp and other invasive species is one of the few issues with widespread support on both sides of the political aisle.
Several commercial fishermen stood up to speak about the issue, talking about how the invasion of the quagga mussel has forced them to go to deeper waters to fish, while the size of the fish has nearly halved. There's a belief that Asian Carp could push Michigan's fishing over the edge, and completely destroy it.
While we're all aware that the Bighead Carp grows up to 100 pounds and 5 feet long and eats everything in its wake..
And we're all aware that the Silver Carp is also a devastating eater of food at the very base of the food chain and leap out of the water injuring boaters...
...I wasn't aware that the incoming Grass Carp eats up to 100 pounds of water vegetation EVERY DAY. That's 100 pounds of aquatic vegetation PER FISH PER DAY.
It was previously believed that most of the Asian Carps needed 60 miles of rivers to spawn, and some speculation had been thrown about that the Great Lakes had few suitable spawning habitats for them...but emerging experiments have shown that the fish need significantly shorter water ways to do so. It was similarly believed that that quagga mussels couldn't reproduce in the Upper Great Lakes, but now they have 950 TRILLION quagga mussels.
Michigan is bracing for this invasion.
The DNR fellow said he's been receiving emails from people who keep telling him that he's wasting Michigan's money and time trying to stem the tides of these invasive creatures.
His response: giving up is not a responsible solution.
If you're in the Great Lakes region, and you see an Asian Carp, report it.
Asian Carp Fact Sheet
About Asian Carp
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- Seven carp species that are native to Asia have been introduced into the United States: bighead carp, black carp, grass carp, silver carp, common carp, goldfish, and crucian carp.
- The "Asian carp" term used in the media recently tends to include those species most recently introduced that are of grave biological concern to the fisheries management community: bighead carp, silver carp and black carp.
- Asian carp migrate up streams or rivers to breed; eggs and larvae float downstream to develop. These fish are fast growing, weighing up to 100 pounds. Asian carp are also highly prolific producing up to 1,000,000 eggs.
- Bighead and silver carp are filter feeders, straining tiny animals and plants (plankton) out of the water. By eating plankton, the carp compete with native filter feeding fish such as lake whitefish, as well as the young life stages of many fish species such as walleye and yellow perch. This competition for food can potentially disrupt the entire food web in a water body.
- Bighead, black, and grass carps have commercial applications and are in trade in the United States although it is illegal to possess these species of carp in Michigan.
- Bighead and silver carp were imported into the Southeastern U.S. in the 1970s to remove algae and suspended matter out of catfish farm ponds and wastewater treatment ponds. During large floods in the mid 1990s, some of the ponds overflowed their banks and the Asian carp were released into local waterways in the Mississippi River Basin. The Concern to Michigan
- Bighead and silver carp are spreading to lakes, rivers and streams in the Mississippi River and Great Lakes region, but are not yet established in the Great Lakes. Their populations have doubled annually, with the fastest expansions occurring in the Missouri and Illinois Rivers. They are well-suited to the climate of the Great Lakes region, which is similar to that in their native region in Asia, and these carp particularly favor large rivers and connecting lakes. The Illinois River connects the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan through the Des Plaines River and a series of artificial and natural waterways in the Chicago area.
- Researchers expect that Asian carp will disrupt the food chain that supports the native fish of the Great Lakes, such as walleye, yellow perch, and lake whitefish.
Due to their large size and rapid rate of reproduction, bighead and silver carp pose a significant threat to the ecosystem of the Great Lakes Basin.
- Silver carp leap high out of the water when disturbed by watercraft. Boaters can and have been injured by these leaping fish. Fear of injury could diminish the desire for recreational boating activities in areas inhabited by these fish.
- Both bighead and silver carp may result in diminished fishing opportunities resulting from population declines of the species of fish sought by recreational anglers and commercial operations.
Actions to Prevent the Spread
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- The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal connects the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes via the Illinois and Des Plaines Rivers.
- To prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. EPA, the State of Illinois, the International Joint Commission, the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have worked to install and maintain two permanent electrical barriers on the Canal to keep Asian carp from reaching Lake Michigan. An electrical barrier strategy was selected, rather than a permanent barrier, to allow for movement of barges through the waterway.
- The electrical barrier system on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal is not a fail-safe system. Although an electrical barrier acts to repel the fish, it doesn't kill them.
- At issue also are several other geographical locations above the electrical barriers whereby Asian carp could reach Lake Michigan if they succeeded in moving past the electrical barriers.
- In December 2009 during maintenance of the electrical barriers that required the barriers to be turned off, a segment of the Canal was rotenoned (poisoned) to remove all species of fish in the area and prevent movement of fish through the area while the maintenance was occurring. During this event, an Asian carp was found in the vicinity of the electrical barrier. Furthermore, DNA evidence indicates that there are bighead and silver carp above the barrier. Silver carp DNA has been detected in the Calumet River and Calumet Harbor on Lake Michigan.
Michigan's Response
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- In December 2009, after federal and Illinois officials failed to identify a plan of immediate and effective action, Attorney General Mike Cox asked the United States Supreme Court to immediately order federal, state, and local officials responsible for Chicago-area locks and waterways to temporarily close them in order to stop Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes. He stated that, "The actions of Illinois and federal authorities have not been enough to assure us the Lakes are safe." Cox continued "That's why the waterways must be shut down until we are assured that Michigan will be protected." Several other states have subsequently joined in this action.
- The litigation requests that the federal, state and local officials take all measures within their power, consistent with protecting public health and safety, to prevent the moment of Asian carp into Lake Michigan, including: 1) closure of the locks at the O'Brien Lock and Dam and the Chicago Controlling Works; 2) operation of the sluice gates at the Wilmette Pumping Station, the O'Brien Lock and Dam, and the Chicago Controlling Works in a manner that will prevent Asian carp from passing into Lake Michigan; 3) creation of new barriers to prevent Asian carp from escaping from the Des Plaines River into the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal during flood events, and from getting to Lake Michigan through the Grand and Little Calumet Rivers; 4) undertake a comprehensive study of the Chicago waterway system to define where and how many Asian carp are in these waters, and to eradicate them; and 5) action to permanently separate these waterways from the Great Lakes.