Posted on 04/05/2013 9:03:43 PM PDT by haffast
Ever since Asian carp were accidentally introduced into U.S. rivers in the 1970s, the invasive fish have been hungrily making their way to the Great Lakes, causing residents of the watershed to dread the arrival of carp in delicate Lake ecosystems, and their potential impacts on the 7 billion dollar fishing industry that represents a major economic driver for the region.
Now, a new study suggests that Asian carp have breached southern Lake Michigan, although they have not yet arrived in numbers great enough to devastate native ecosystems.
Scientists at Notre Dame University, Southern Michigan University, and The Nature Conservancy spent two years searching for Asian carp by examining genetic material in the Lake and attempting to match DNA samples to two particularly damaging species of Asian carp, silver and bighead carp.
Out of 2,800 water samples, they found 58 positive links to bighead and silver carp in the Chicago Area Waterway System, which flows directly into Lake Michigan, along with six in western Lake Erie.
Questions remain about how many carp are already in the ecosystem—and how long it will take until the fish begin showing up in numbers large enough to cause serious harm.
“The most plausible explanation is still that there are some carp out there,” lead author Christopher Jerde of the University of Notre Dame told the AP. “We can be cautiously optimistic…that we’re not at the point where they’ll start reproducing, spreading further and doing serious damage.”
snip
“Our river fisheries are important but not valued in the billions of dollars,” Chapman told TakePart. “Whereas the Great Lakes fisheries are hugely economically important. If you cause any perturbations in fisheries like Lake Eerie’s walleye and yellow perch fisheries, that could be hugely problematic.”
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(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Based on your post #17 and my #19, I think Alison Fairbrother needs to work on “attention to details.”
Two fictitious schools in one paragraph.
As small fry, they're going to be a great food source for the walleye, lake trout, salmon and bass too........
Gotta use steel shot, the lead shot pollutes the lakes........LOL!
Got anything for Cicadas?
It is liquid and smells like grandma before she showers but you get used to it.
It feeds soil microbes that tend to the roots and helps break down the fertilizers into usable forms for the plants.
The Illegal Invasion Continues!
The Great Lakes are also subject to massive algae blooms that destroy oxygen needed by all fish.
The asian carp are a CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER to the fish populations in the Great Lakes, and every effort should be made to eradicate these destructive fish.
No photoshop, those are real Sheepshead teeth.
“My personal opinion is we should be allowed to shoot them out of boats with shotguns.”
Sporting Carps. :-)
“I find the phrase “invasive species” racist, “specist,” and judgmental.”
May I suggest, “Undocumented carp”?
Its certainly not funny if you make your living off the great lakes sportfishing industry which is worth between 7 and 10 billion per year in Michigan alone.
It would have been so much easier to just shut down the Chicago sewage canal but Obama stepped in on behalf of his Chicago buddies (plus appointed 2 separate czars to not deal with the same issue)
Never heard that. Just called it “Cooper Street.”
Canada Ping!
I wouldn’t say goodbye to the great lakes exactly but its going to cost taxpayers millions per year to control the carp like it does to control the sea lampreys.
Asian(silver) carp are a problem but I have a question. Where the Hellis Southern Michigan University? I’ve never heard of that. Northern, Central, and Eastern, yes.
A bit tangential, but note how the recovery of the "dead" Lake Erie is taken for granted by this statement. In the 1970's environmental wackoes were saying that the only fish left were weird mutants who could live on toxic waste. So much for "science" liberal style.
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