A fisherman's discovery in Lake Calumet near Chicago stirred up the Asian carp debate when he caught a 19.6-pound Asian carp measuring 34.6 inches long on Tuesday, June 22, 2010. The bighead carp was found north of the Chicago Area Waterways electronic barrier in Lake Calumet only six miles from Lake Michigan. The commercial fisherman was performing routine sampling for the Illinois DNR.
In an Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee press release, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Assistant Regional Director Mike Weimer said, "This issue is an extremely high priority for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and we will continue to work directly with our partners and stakeholders to implement the Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework using all available tools and techniques."
Asian Carp Approach Lake Michigan
This is the first live specimen found north of the electronic barrier system and the second in the Chicago Area Waterways. The first Asian carp found in the Chicago Area Waterways was discovered below the electronic barrier system on December 3, 2009. In his December 4, 2009 Reuters article, "Chicago river poisoned to block feared Asian carp," Andrew Stern reported that authorities dumped "more than 2,000 pounds (900 kg) of the natural poison rotenone that prevents fish gills from absorbing oxygen," into the canal to give workers time to turn off one of the electronic barriers for maintenance.
Evidence of Asian carp was previously found in Lake Calumet using Environmental DNA Analysis developed by the Nature Conservancy's Great Lakes Aquatic Invasive Species Director Lindsay Chadderton and University of Notre Dame researchers. Results of the analysis were presented to the United States Supreme Court in a December 2009 lawsuit launched against the State of Illinois by the State of Michigan and supported by Minnesota, Ohio, New York, Wisconsin, and the Canadian province of Ontario.
The goal of the lawsuit was to force the State of Illinois to permanently close the Chicago Area Waterways off from the Great Lakes to prevent the Asian Carp from migrating into Lake Michigan and destroying the Great Lakes' valuable ecosystem and fishing industry. No live specimens had been found north of the electronic barrier at that time.
Environmental DNA Analysis
In an effort to confirm the validity of eDNA analysis, David Lodge, Director of the Center for Aquatic Conservation and Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, explained to the Supreme Court in the "Appendix to Memorandum for the United States in Opposition," that, "eDNA from silver and bighead carp is likely to come from mucus, intestinal lining shed with feces, cells from the urinary tract shed in urine, cells sloughed from gills, or some combination thereof."
Some feel that this latest bighead carp discovery is a sign that the fight against Asian carp in the Great Lakes has already been lost. Others are still working to close off the locks. "At this time there is no intention to close the locks," says Colonel Vincent Quarles, Command of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chicago District.
Related Articles
- DNA Analysis of an Invasive Aquatic Species
- Effects of an Invasive Species on an Ecosystem
Source
"Bighead Asian Carp Found in Chicago Area Waterway System," Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee, June 23, 2010 (Accessed June 24, 2010)
Diane Ursu - Diane Ursu joined Suite101 as a contributing writer in August 2009 and became a Feature Writer in January 2010. She is a freelance writer ...
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