Flooding could bring killer fish to Great Lakes

http://www.freep.com/article/20091015/NEWS05/910150402/1322/Are-killer-carp-coming?

POSTED: OCT. 15, 2009
Flooding could bring killer fish to Michigan
They are 25 miles from the Great Lakes
BY TINA LAM
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER


It may sound far away, but if the Des Plaines River in Illinois floods, it could set off an ecologically devastating chain of events, bringing the feared Asian carp to Michigan's door.

Silver carp -- one species of Asian carp -- already are only a mile below an electric barrier in a canal leading to the Chicago River that empties into Lake Michigan. But their DNA also has shown up in the Des Plaines, which runs next to the canal for miles.

The river's banks are higher than the canal, making it easy for the fish to escape into the canal, and ultimately Lake Michigan, in a flood. And the river flooded in August 2007 and September 2008, so Great Lakes protectionists are alarmed.

"We're just one heavy rain away from this emergency becoming an epidemic," Joel Brammeier of the Alliance for the Great Lakes said.

Congress may vote this week on authority for the Army Corps of Engineers to do whatever is needed to stop the carp. The Corps raised the voltage on the electric barrier in August after silver carp DNA was found 5 miles from the barrier.

September tests showed carp now only a mile from the barrier and also in the Des Plaines.

Silver carp can grow to 80 pounds and leap out of the water, endangering boaters and anglers. They feed voraciously on the food other lake species eat, so they could destroy or drastically alter the food chain.

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The Great Lakes need to be protected.

the lakes need to be protected . I live right next to Lake Michigan.

a full time eradication project. This would create some jobs. Once in the Great Lakes the carp would go on to destroy the fisheries of Canada and the Saint Lawrence River. The sport fishing industry in the Great Lake States is worth billions. It is worth the investment to stop the carp.

I know the asians eat Carp, but I wouldn't eat any of the ones I've seen.

but thats what My dad used to say:
1. Take a pretty good size carp and fellet it but leaving the skin ON.
2. Find an old PINE board, bout a 1"X6" or 8"
3. Preheat oven to about 450' or so.
4. Salt and pepper to taste.
5. Place fish on board and place in oven for 90 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, throw fish in trash and eat the board.

:spray:

it's just a matter of time.

The grow to 80 pounds and leap out of the water?