A Nuisance Threatening The Great Lakes
The Rapid Spread Of Asian Carp In The Mississippi & Illinois River Systems Is Examined, The Culprit Of Damaging Natural Habitats & Discouraging Recreational Boating
In the late 1970’s catfish farms in the south were looking for cost effective ways to control algae and boost their revenues. They found what seemed to be a silver bullet, Asian carp, filter feeding fish that would clean up their ponds and then could be sold as a secondary product. What they didn’t realize is that in their determination to boost fish farm productivity, they would have a profound impact on recreational and sport fisheries throughout the watershed.
“Asian carp were introduced in 1974 for biological control of algae in catfish ponds. It made a lot of sense, instead of putting chemical into fish that were going into the human food stream, you have biological control and an additional product. Well unfortunately, they got out of the barn, they got out of the ponds right away and now they’re in the Mississippi River basin”, stated Kevin Irons aquatic nuisance species program manager with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Once the carp were out of the bag, they spread tremendously working their way up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers destroying native habitat and fish populations. “We know where they are now, they dominate the water column and push out wanted species of fish. They eat all of the plankton and nutrients that other game fish rely upon, so they out compete a lot of fish that we want to keep. We don’t want them getting into a new water where they are not”, explained Marc policy director for the Great Lakes Regional Center of the National Wildlife Federation.
Biologists have been watching the spread of Asian carp and have been working to slow or eliminate their spread to new waters. The major area of concern currently is the Great Lakes. The Mississippi basin is connected to the Great Lakes basin through the Chicago waterways, a series of canals that allows for cargo ships to transport goods between the two basins.
“With Asian carp, when people started realizing this was a threat to the Great Lakes, the commission became involved primarily through our mandate to coordinate fishery management. It became an issue that was critical to the basin to address collectively and coordinate actions”, said Jill Wingfield communications program manager for the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission.
The Great Lakes Fisheries Commission was founded in 1955 by the Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries, the catalyst for the formation of the commission was the invasion of the sea lamprey another invasive species. Lamprey were first documented in the Great Lakes in 1921 and by 1938, they had spread to all the Great Lakes and caused near destruction of the commercial and recreational fisheries.
“When we talk about Asian Carp, we really apply the lessons of the sea lamprey control and lessons from the invasion of the sea lamprey. Sea lamprey is the only aquatic invasive invertebrate that we can control and that we have a control program for right now. We have learned, given that the lamprey is the only one we can control, it is really important to focus on prevention. Even if you can control them, it’s pretty arduous and expensive. In the sea lamprey program, we spend about twenty-five million per year”, explained Wingfield.
Federal, State, and nongovernmental entities are working to ensure the Asian carp doesn’t reach the Great Lakes, but there is no one surefire solution. Resource managers have implemented a series of electric barriers and removal projects designed to combat the carp. “For quite a while, we’ve had barriers in the Chicago waterways that are electric barriers. The barriers put in place look like railroad ties at the bottom of the canal. It puts an electric field out that the fish don’t want to be near, so they end up stopping and not swimming through”, said Wingfield.
“Some structures are already in place, like the electric dispersal barrier near Romeoville Illinois run by the US Army Corps of Engineers. This is actually a series of multiple electric arrays that work together to prevent fish passage and to our knowledge, we have not seen any fish navigate that electric barrier to date. As you go downstream, you get to Marseilles Pool and Starved Rock Pool as part of the upper Illinois River, we focus a lot of removal there. We take out 1.1 million pounds of Asian carp annually. We’ve thinned the population overall in the upper river as much as 50% and we don’t see reproduction happening in the upper river”, claimed Irons.
Asian carp are removed through the use of commercial fishermen who are contracted with the DNR. Carp are removed in great numbers using specialized nets called gill nets, hoop nets, and trammel nets. The fish that are removed are processed into liquid fish fertilizer, animal treats and pet foods. “We have four contractors that will remove the fish for us. Our commercial ventures downstream remove 3.5 to 7 million pounds annually and we think that market development and economic development could remove 10 to 30 million pounds annually. That would reduce our need to work in the upper river”, explained Irons.
As the carp creep closer to the Great Lakes, new plans are being made to develop more effective barriers. The US Army Corps of Engineers recently released a proposal that would construct new system pairing electric barriers with water jets and sound devices to prevent the carp from moving past Brandon Road Lock. The proposal would cost approximately $275 million. “I’ve gotten questions about the Brandon Road project that is estimated at $275 million, and when we are talking about a seven-billion-dollar fishery and all of the tourism and businesses that supports, there is no question whether it is the right move. It is worth doing everything we can to protect this resource”, Wingfield commented.
“It really doesn’t cost a whole lot of money when you consider the seven-billion-dollar fishery and the fifteen-billion-dollar boating industry. There is no silver bullet, there’s nothing that’s one hundred percent effective. The only thing that would be one hundred percent effective would be to cut off the canal systems that allow water to flow back and forth between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, which in essence would cut off shipping and we know that doesn’t have the political support right now”, claimed .
The carp don’t only damage the ecosystem and destroy native fish populations, they can also injure boaters and deter recreational users from water where they have become established. “There are economic concerns, where we have these large numbers of fish you can have people not wanting to spend time on the water, that can cause economic concerns. Anyone who has heard the word Asian carp have also seen the YouTube videos and television programs that show these fish jumping up. It’s pretty phenomenal to see. They are large schooling fish and they swim in schools close to each other so any threat whether it’s a passing boat motor, a bird flying over, or a loud noise can cause the fish to go into protection mode. They go in all directions so they’ll go down, but they’ll also go up and out. When they go up we can see them and they’ve been known to hit boaters”, stated Irons.
“There have been human health impacts by people getting knocked over by silver carp [a type of Asian carp]. In certain areas of the Illinois and Mississippi river people really don’t go out on the water in their boats or jet skis anymore, at least not without protective equipment”, explained Wingfield.
While biologists and policy makers are doing their best to control and contain the carp, anglers and outdoor enthusiasts play a vital role in preventing the further spread of carp. “While we can spend millions on infrastructure in Chicago to block carp, all it takes is a couple of juvenile Asian carp that look like shiners and bait to make their way over to the Great Lakes. A lot of RVers and boaters they have a huge role in helping identify their bait, what an Asian carp looks like and what your typical shiner looks like. You can find out by contacting your state agency”, urged .
“A real strong message for travelers is we can do lots of things in the waterway like removal and barriers, but we really need help by the people using the resource. People that own boats or that are trailering from one water way to the other really need to make sure they’re not moving fish themselves either in a bait bucket or in their bilges or live wells. In Illinois, we do have a campaign that is ‘Be a Hero Transport Zero’. That’s really important because we can do all the right things in the river, but it can be introduced somewhere else because someone carries it intentionally or unintentionally to another watershed”.
Jared Langenegger
A graduate of New Mexico State University with B.S. in wildlife and fisheries science, Jared spent 15 years working in fisheries and parks management. He enjoys camping, fishing, hunting, painting, and wood working.
Make Sure To Stay At:
Leisure Lake Membership Resort is a family camping and RV resort. It is located in Joliet, Illinois, 40 miles from Chicago and only minutes from Chicago Land's Route 66 Speedway, 5 miles from Metra Train Station.