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How effective? Just 1 Asian carp found during fish kill
The silver glint of tens of thousands of dead fish dotted the brown water of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal on Thursday. But among those fish, officials found just one Asian carp -- the dreaded invasive species that the state's largest fish kill was designed to root out and destroy.
The fish kill, which continues through the weekend, was a preemptive strike designed to allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers a short period of time to perform routine maintenance on an electric barrier built specifically to stop the destructive species from entering Lake Michigan. While the Natural Resources Department led the operation, the biologists and ecologists zipping along six miles of poisoned waterway Thursday were from Indiana, Ohio, New York, Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Quebec and Ontario, all areas bordering the Great Lakes threatened by the aggressive fish. The federal government was paying for much of what Rogner said was a $3 million project, which may need to be repeated in six months when the electric barrier is again due for a tune-up. The low temperature Thursday helped keep the stench of decaying fish in check, as heavily bundled people in boats used hand and drag nets to scoop fish, some gasping, into barrels. The barrels eventually will be disposed of in landfills. In Chicago on Thursday, Gov. Quinn downplayed reports that Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm was considering a lawsuit to force the closing of several Chicago area locks, which provide a waterway for boats and barges but also could be the conduit to the Great Lakes for the Asian carp. "She commissioned her attorney general to look at everything," Quinn said. "We're all working together." DNA sampling has suggested Asian carp have penetrated the electric barrier and may already be in Lake Michigan. Posted by: Fred 2009-12-05 |
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