For Immediate Release 

Thursday, July 1, 2010

The discovery of spawning Asian carp in the Wabash River shows the crisis is advancing on multiple fronts and demands aggressive and immediate action to deal with the Asian carp crisis, says a coalition of national and Great Lakes groups. 

The carp were found downstream of a floodplain that separates the Wabash from the Maumee River and Lake Erie, near the city of Fort Wayne, Ind., according to recent press and congressional statements.

The discovery and acknowledgment of the finding by the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee comes a week after the committee announced a live Asian carp was found just six miles from Lake Michigan in Chicago’s Lake Calumet. The 3-foot-long, 20-pound sexually mature male was the first Asian carp found beyond the last locks protecting the Great Lakes, and miles beyond the electric barrier meant to keep the devastating fish out of the lakes.

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Action Deadline:  TUESDAY JUNE 29TH, 10 AM

Bighead carp captured in Lake Calumet on 6/22/10 (IDNR)

Members of the House and Senate are circulating a letter among their colleagues asking them to sign on. The letter is to President Obama and urges him to immediately strengthen the barrier and implement all other measures necessary to stop Asian carp from migrating into the Great Lakes. It also asks that the Administration expedite its study to develop an aggressive strategy for permanent hydrologic separation of the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins. These steps are necessary if we are to keep Asian carp out of Lake Michigan and prevent countless other invasions between the two basins. This issue is particularly urgent given the recent discovery of a live Asian carp near Lake Michigan.

Please take a moment to contact Senators Durbin (202-224-2152) and Burris (202-224-2854) and your Representative (look up here) and urge them to sign onto this letter.

The deadline to sign on is Tuesday, June 29 at noon. Congressional members can contact the following staff to sign on: Katie Murtha (Rep. Dingell), Ben Gielow (Rep. Ehlers), Alice Yates (Sen. Levin), or Lauri Hettinger (Sen. Voinovich).

The following members have already signed on: Reps. Dingell (MI), Slaughter (NY), and Ehlers (MI), and Sens. Levin (MI) and Voinovich (OH).

Fish finding affirms eDNA testing and points to need for aggressive action to stave off fish invaders

PRESS RELEASE

June 23,2010

Asian carp captured in Lake Calumet on 6/22/10 (IDNR)

The nightmare scenario of Asian carp entering the Great Lakes through Chicago waterways is closer to reality as the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee announced today that they had captured an invasive bighead carp [a species of invasive Asian carp] in Lake Calumet, 6 miles away from Lake Michigan. The fish’s capture bolsters repeated environmental DNA tests which have shown that the carp have evaded an electrical barrier intended to prevent their movement out of canals artificially connecting the Great Lakes and Mississippi River system. Scientists and government regulators agree that the invasive fish pose a dire threat to the Lakes because of their size and voracious appetites.

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On the loose 

Asian carp (bighead and silver) jumping out of the Illinois River near Havana, IL.

Bighead and silver carp (collectively referred to as Asian carp) escaped from Arkansas fish farms into the Mississippi River and have marched steadily upstream in the Illinois River towards Lake Michigan. The invaders reached the Peoria area about a decade ago where their population has been doubling almost every year. In 2003 the Army Corps of Engineers built an electric fence in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal  about 25 miles from Lake Michigan, but soon found it did not stop the Asian carp. So the Corps of Engineers built a second, higher-voltage, barrier that became operational in April 2009 at the same location. By this time Asian carp had been seen less than 10 miles away from the electric fences. {Continue Reading »}

Feb. 12, 2010 public hearing in Chicago.

Over three hundred people turned out for the federal Asian carp hearing in Chicago on February 12, including Prairie Rivers Network staffer Traci Barkley who was quoted in the Detroit Free Press.

Traci, who conducted some of the early research on the electric fence prior to joining Prairie Rivers Network, reminded top federal officials that it was originally designed to stop the round goby from invading the Mississippi basin from the Great Lakes, but it was too late. {Continue Reading »}