Dec 1: A task force of Federal, regional state and local agencies has developed a Rapid Response Plan to address this impending threat to the Great Lakes. According to information posted on the Plan website, the increasing threat of the Asian carp expansion toward the Great Lakes and these fish placing greater pressure on barriers already in place to restrict their movement, prompted the creation of the Asian Carp Rapid Response Workgroup. The purpose of the Workgroup was to assess the current situation and recommend courses of action should a rapid response be necessary to deal with Asian carp in areas of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Des Plaines River, and the Illinois and Michigan Canal. In preparation for such a response, the Asian Carp Rapid Response Plan was created. At the request of partner agencies, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) has agreed to coordinate response actions and to serve as lead agency during response Operations.
The purpose of this plan is to establish, coordinate, and document actions by IDNR and its partner agencies to reduce the vulnerability of the Great Lakes to an Asian carp invasion via the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC) and nearby bodies of water including the Des Plaines River and the Illinois & Michigan Canal (I&M). In the short term the purpose of rapid response measures, i.e. piscicide treatment, will accompany barrier maintenance; relieve pressure on Electric Barrier I (within the Lockport Pool); confirm presence of Asian carp previously detected through eDNA sampling and analysis; evaluate the feasibility and utility of applying piscicide in the CSSC to reduce or eliminate Asian carp populations; and validate the effectiveness of utilizing NIMS ICS concepts and principles of response for this type of effort via a multijurisdictional approach. In the long term permanent tools, such as piscicide treatment, would need to be implemented to mitigate the risk of Asian carp accessing Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes.
Access a release from IDNR (click here). Access the Asian Carp Management website for extensive information (click here).
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Some researchers think the carp will not reproduce in Lake Michigan, but where in Asia has a large lake ever been a barrier to this species ? Does anyone know that ?
Also, some Chicago officials are saying there would be storm flooding if drainage overflow could not be sluice-gate directed into Lake Michigan (recent DNA suggests carp are already into overflow waterways). But the
barge/drainage canal is huge, and if the Army Corp of Engineers could adjust its water level to approaching storm conditions, then could it accept the overflow ?
Milwaukee100115
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