Asian Carp Invasion?

[stripercrazy]

Has anyone been following the invasion of those carp? Seems like they are every where.

[DarkSkies]

Sent in by Rip-Plugger, thanks! :HappyWave:


Monster Fish Breach Electric Barrier, Heading for Great Lakes

By: Associated Press | Thursday, December 10, 2009 10:42:00 AMLast updated: Thursday, December 10, 2009 10:42:00 AM
TRAVERSE CITY, MI - A monster is loose. It eats 40 times its body weight per day, can grow up to 4 feet long, weighs up to 100 pounds and is known to launch itself out of the water at high velocity like a missile, frequently striking boaters and PWC operators who happen to be passing by.

http://www.goboatingclassifieds.com/fishrap/rappix/AsianCarp_121009.jpg Photo by: Steve Morse/University of MissouriNo Pictures, Please -- Silver carp have the ability to jump high into the air and often hit boaters on the Missouri River. These fish were filmed in action as they seemingly mounted an attack on University of Missouri television producer Kent Faddis, filming them from aboard a U.S. Geological Survey research boat.
This hungry invasive species -- the Asian carp -- is believed to have breached a shock-producing electric barrier designed to prevent the giant invader from upsetting the ecosystem in the Great Lakes and jeopardizing a $7 billion sport fishery, officials said.

Scientists recently collected 32 DNA samples of Asian carp between the barrier and Lake Michigan in waterways south of Chicago, although the fish have yet to be spotted in the area, said Maj. Gen. John Peabody of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

If the feared bighead and silver carp have made it through the $9 million barrier, the only remaining obstacle between the carp and Lake Michigan is a navigational lock on the Calumet River.

Still, federal officials insisted, a Great Lakes invasion is not inevitable.

“We’re going to keep throwing everything we possibly can at them to keep them out,” said Cameron Davis, senior Great Lakes adviser to Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Asian carp escaped from Southern fish farms into the Mississippi River during 1990s flooding and have been migrating northward ever since. Aside from decimating species prized by anglers and commercial fishermen, Asian carp are known to leap from the water at the sound of passing motors and sometimes collide with boaters.

It is not known how the carp would fare in the chilly Great Lakes, which are different ecosystems from rivers, Davis said. A worst-case scenario envisions them spreading “like a cancer cell,” he said.
David Lodge, a University of Notre Dame invasive species expert, confirmed the presence of DNA of bighead and silver carp in the Cal-Sag Channel. Officials plan to treat a 6-mile section of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal with a fish toxin called rotenone to prevent Asian carp from advancing.


This article first appeared in the December 2009 issue of The Log Newspaper. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated.

http://www.thelog.com/news/logNewsArticle.aspx?x=10379

[ledhead36]

9 million dollars spent on barriers and they still get through?

[captnemo]

Scientists recently collected 32 DNA samples of Asian carp between the barrier and Lake Michigan in waterways south of Chicago, although the fish have yet to be spotted in the area, said Maj. Gen. John Peabody of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

If the feared bighead and silver carp have made it through the $9 million barrier, the only remaining obstacle between the carp and Lake Michigan is a navigational lock on the Calumet River.

Still, federal officials insisted, a Great Lakes invasion is not inevitable.

“We’re going to keep throwing everything we possibly can at them to keep them out,” said Cameron Davis, senior Great Lakes adviser to Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

http://www.thelog.com/news/logNewsArticle.aspx?x=10379

It's a great thing when federal dollars are available. It's like someone turned on a faucet. Once they approve of something, it's get rich time for all the federal contractors. In the meantime, they can't seem to get a handle on accurate figures for catch data. go figure.

[stripercrazy]

http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/images/icons/icon3.gif Tell all the illegal immigrants that anyone who can catch and kill 10,000 of them gets their citizenship papers. Problem solved.

[vpass]

I wounder if these carp could be processed like bunker. If so they could take some of the pressure off the Bunker.

[DarkSkies]

Sent in by Rip-plugger, thanks!

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/invasive-asian-carp-reach-great-lakes/19529829
Alien Invasion: Asian Carp Breach Great Lakes Barrier

Updated: 10 days 12 hours ago

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http://o.aolcdn.com/os/news/art/lisa-holewa (http://stripersandanglers.com/team/lisa-holewa) Lisa Holewa (http://stripersandanglers.com/team/lisa-holewa) Contributor
AOL News
(June 24) -- They can grow to 4 feet and 100 pounds and eat 40 percent of their body weight daily. They have knocked jet skiers unconscious. Scientists have been warning of their invasion for years.

And now an Asian carp was found this week for the first time beyond the electric barriers meant to keep the invasive species out of the Great Lakes. Scientists fear that the carp will become established in the Great Lakes, starving out sports fish and killing the region's $7 billion fishing industry.

"This is simply another sort of fishy, slimy reminder that a permanent solution needs to be right around the corner, not five or 10 years away," Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, told AOL News today.
http://o.aolcdn.com/photo-hub/news_gallery/6/7/672400/1277402013653.JPEG Illinois Department of Natural Resources / AP
An Asian carp was found for the first time beyond electric barriers meant to keep the voracious invasive species out of the Great Lakes, prompting renewed calls for swift action to block their advance.


"This finding is extraordinarily disturbing. The bottom line is: It makes it even more urgent for us to build a permanent solution."

The bighead Asian carp caught live on Wednesday was discovered by commercial fishermen in a waterway about six miles from Lake Michigan. It was about 3 feet long and weighed just under 20 pounds, according to a news release from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

"We set out on a fact-finding mission, and we have found what we were looking for," said John Rogner, assistant director of the Illinois DNR. "This is important evidence, and the more information we have about where Asian carp are, the better chance we have of keeping them out of the Great Lakes."

Like most invasive species, the Asian carp was introduced with the hope of doing good. Originally introduced to clean catfish ponds and in experiments to filter sewage, the creatures eventually escaped during floods in the 1990s and headed into adjoining rivers. Eventually, they reached the tributaries of the Mississippi River system, which includes the Missouri River, the Ohio River and the Illinois River.

There, they have wreaked havoc for years, destroying commercial fishing and damaging recreational water activities. Early last summer, a 22-year-old jet skier in the Illinois River had to be rescued by firefighters when he ran into a leaping fish that knocked him from his machine. In 2004, a woman nearly died after being knocked unconscious by a leaping fish while on her Jet Ski near Peoria.

The carp might not have posed any danger to the Great Lakes, as nothing naturally connects the Mississippi River basin to the Great Lakes. But back in the late 1800s, engineers designed a network of canals and rivers to reverse the flow of the Chicago River in order to keep waste from flowing into Lake Michigan.

Environmental groups have been pushing to close the locks that connect the Mississippi to the Great Lakes.

"This is not something that can happen overnight, but we can get started," Brammeier said.

However, a Chicago-based industry coalition called Unlock Our Jobs said the discovery of a single carp can't justify closing the locks -- which spokesman Mark Biel said could damage the region's economy and kill jobs without guaranteeing that carp would be unable to reach the lakes.

"A few isolated incidents of Asian carp in this small section of the Illinois Waterway does not mean existing barriers have failed," Biel said in a statement. "While this is sure to result in renewed calls for permanent closure, such drastic action is simply unwarranted given the effectiveness of the electric barriers and the facts on the ground."

For now, the Army Corps of Engineers is relying on two electric barriers to hold the carp back. These emit pulses to discourage the fish and shock them with an electrical jolt if they attempt to swim through

Brammeier noted that among the biggest concerns of damage to the Great Lakes is the fact that Asian carp love to live in tributaries and near shore areas -- along coasts and riverways.

"These are some of the places in the Great Lakes that are most loved by the people who live here and visit here. Places like Green Bay and western Lake Erie are most susceptible to being overrun," he said.

"They love the same things the people love. ... Now is the time to do something."

[stripercrazy]

Tastes just like chicken!:laugh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRQVNzfcy8I

[stripercrazy]

Some more video about these nasty fish.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc0kYOB0Mfs&feature=related



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc-e8EGkLMo&feature=related

[fishinmission78]

What a nuisance, glad we don't have them in the rivers here.

[mick2360]

What a nuisance, glad we don't have them in the rivers here.

Yet.......

Pretty funny video until you stop to realize that this is an invasive species that has wiped out natural breeding stock. At 6:36, old boy takes a seven pounder in the face. :scared:

[captnemo]

It's getting worse.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-26017956
Chicago goes to war with Asian carphttp://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/52272000/jpg/_52272274_pallabghosh2.jpg By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News, Chicago http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/72728000/jpg/_72728585_bigheadcarpd75q0170.jpg The fear is that Asian carp could completely overrun high-value fisheries such as salmon
Continue reading the main story (http://stripersandanglers.com/Forum/#story_continues_1) Related Stories

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The US city of Chicago is considering drastic measures to prevent giant fish infesting North America's Great Lakes.
Authorities are thinking of blocking the city's canal system to stop Asian carp entering Lake Michigan.
Such a move could cost up to $18bn (?11bn) and cause huge economic disruption to the city.
Cheaper options are also being examined, including making burgers out of the fish and eating them to extinction.
This species of carp, as the name suggests, is native to the Far East.
They were originally introduced to southern US states more than three decades ago to control algal build-up in sewage treatment plants. But they escaped into the Mississippi River and proliferated, making their way north towards the Great Lakes.
More than a metre in length, they have displaced indigenous fish species along the way.
Technological solutions Dozens of them will often leap out of the water as boats approach.
A local environmental campaigner, Michael Beecham, told a public consultation on the issue about his experience of this frightening spectacle.
"I've gone down the river and had these fish jump up and hit me in the face. It is a big problem for our natural species," he said.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/72871000/gif/_72871341_great_lakes_304map.gif
The meeting was organised by the US Army Corps of Engineers, which has been asked by Congress and the White House to come up with a technological solution to the carp problem.
Its study has put forward several options, one of which involves blocking parts of Chicago's canal system. This might take 25 years to complete.
Col Frederick Drummond said that the issue had emotional as well as financial factors.
"I tell folks it's a very complex study. There are 9.1 million people in Chicago and over a period of 100 years that canal has been there and the economic impact is considerable."
Dinner proposal Listening in at the meeting was John Goss, representing the White House, who was worried about the effect that having permanent barriers in the canal system would have on industry.
"It would certainly increase the cost of transportation," he told BBC News.
"It is currently very cheap and efficient to bring materials and finished goods down that Chicago ship canal. The steel industry, for example, depends on scrap metal by barge."
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/48417000/jpg/_48417220_48417224.jpg The carp have worked their way up the Mississippi
Another cheaper option, not suggested by the Corps of Engineers report, is to eat the fish out of existence.
Dirk Fucik is selling carp burger at his specialist fish shop not far from downtown Chicago.
He tells me he thinks the carp are a great resource.
"To catch it and throw it away is a waste," he says. "Eating them helps solve the problem and also provides jobs."
Mr Fucik's burgers, mixed with lemon zest and pepper, did not taste bad at all. But the idea has not yet caught on. So far, he is the only person in the whole of Chicago selling carp burgers.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/73050000/jpg/_73050221_73050220.jpg

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Pallab Ghosh went to see what Mr Fucik's carp burgers tasted like

International perspective Although the Asian carp may appear to be an issue only for the US states and Canadian provinces, Roger Germann, of the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, said the rest of the globe should also be concerned.
"Twenty per cent of the world's freshwater is in the Great Lakes, and from an economic standpoint it will affect shipping that folks in the UK and other parts of the world might rely on to get their goods and services here because they are going to cost more to transport."
Illinois and neighbouring states will have to find a solution soon. Many believe the fish are unstoppable and that it is only a matter of time before they make the Great Lakes their new home.
The carp problem was also being discussed in town at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

[BassBuddah]

Asian carp burgers? I think you would need a lot of soy or worchester sauce. Poor folks, wishing them good luck.

[robmedina]

9 million dollars spent on barriers and they still get through? sounds just like the beach replenishment in NJ..