Hold the Carp, Please...

Recently, I spoke on a panel in Grosse Pointe on the topic of the Asian Carp, a voracious invasive species that is knocking on the door of Lake Michigan.On a snowy night with terrible roads, at least 100 people came out to learn about this new threat, and express their desire to address it, and find out what they can do to help.

By now, almost everyone in Michigan is familiar with this aggressive fish that leaps out of the water to strike boaters and gobbles up the bottom of the food chain, effectively starving out all native species.

However, most attendees did not know the severity of the threat, or the actions that are necessary to solve the problem.

For instance, the Mississippi River, where the carp has been making it's journey to the Great Lakes since the 1970s, has a biomass of about 80% carp. That means that out of all the living things in the Mississippi, 80% of them are carp, which were introduced to the river in the 70s. In addition, the Mississippi is lined with empty marinas because the carp have destroyed opportunities for recreational boating and fishing.

As far as solutions are concerned, permanent ecological and hydrological separation of the Great Lakes Basin and the Mississippi River Basin is the only long term solution. This would involve a massive re-engineering of the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal, which was created at the begining of the 1900s so that the city of Chicago could send its waste downriver. Many Chicago and Illinois officials have resisted this option, but recent developments signal that a compromise might be in the works.

Whatever happens, one thing is clear from the town hall meeting: Michiganders love the Great Lakes, and will go to great lengths to protect them. The team at Michigan LCV is excited to continue the effort to protect the lakes from these awful fish, and if the level of concern from this town hall is any indication, we will come together to fix this problem.

posted by Bill Kirk