Conservancy Testifies On Asian Carp Threat

The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy has joined many other groups in calling for more public input into federal decisions about how to stop Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.  Dennis Fijalkowski, Executive Director of the Conservancy, told the government’s “Asian Carp Regional Coordination Committee” which met in Ypsilanti on February 17, 2010, that their attempts to “hear the public” were a sham after people from Chicago shipping interests lined up to dominate the public comment.   

“We can’t believe this discussion is even taking place, “Fijalkowski said in his testimony.  “It is an example of governing by “special interest,” rather than governing for the “public interest.”  You are balancing 18,000 recreational boating trips and 7 million tons of cargo annually in this system against a $7 billion fishery and the additional boating recreation of the Great Lakes.  We get as many recreational boating trips in a month at some of our Lake Michigan ports as the entire Chicago waterway system.  Comparing the value of this water system to the Great Lakes doesn’t compute….”   

Fijalkowski added, “Now, we’re invited to comment on a plan to stop the carp invasion of our lake.  One observer called the plan a list of ingredients, without a recipe.  That is so kind!  The plan is wholly inadequate.  It doesn’t guarantee a solution that is acceptable to the people of the Great Lakes.  Opening and closing the locks and dripping rotenone periodically is not a solution at all.  The only fool proof way to stop the invasion is to immediately start planning for the physical separation of the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River.  Nothing short of a separation is a guarantee.  And yes, we demand a guarantee!  We’ll have just one chance to do right by future generations.”  

The Asian carp are invasive fish that are harming the environment and economies along the Mississippi River and threaten to do the same to the Great Lakes.  The fish consume enormous amounts of food that other fish rely on, allowing the carp to muscle out native species.  The fish can grow up to 3 feet long and weigh up to 100 pounds, quickly dominating a water body due to their size.  The fish also pose a risk to people: the silver carp are easily startled and often jump out of the water, making them a hazard to boaters, anglers and water-skiers.   

Alarming news about Asian carp threatening the Great Lakes repeatedly grabbed headlines this past fall.  In October the Wildlife Conservancy joined other conservation groups calling for immediate action by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to stop Asian carp from entering Lake Michigan.  Along with fellow members of the Healing Our Waters Coalition, the Conservancy contacted Great Lakes area senators and congressmen to urge their support for work needed to prevent the exotic species from by-passing an electrical barrier in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC).  That waterway connects the Illinois Rivers, where Asian carp are already plentiful, to Lake Michigan.  

Then last November, the news got worse.  The Corp of Engineers announced that scientists at Notre Dame University had collected 32 DNA samples of Asian carp between the barrier and Lake Michigan in the Cal-Sag Channel and the Calumet River.  Those waterways connect the CSSC to Lake Michigan.  Only a navigational lock on the Calumet River remained as a possible obstacle to direct entry of the feared exotic species into the Great Lakes.

The slow, uncertain approach employed by state and federal agencies in facing this threat is almost as troubling as the Asian carp itself.  The species escaped from Southern U.S. fish farms into the Mississippi River 35 years ago.  Fisheries biologists have been tracking the steady movement of Asian carp northward for more than 15 years.  Environmental groups warned of the threat to the Great Lakes.  Electrical barriers of questionable effectiveness were eventually built.  State and federal agencies have now ordered further testing since no Asian carp have actually been seen in the critical stretches of waterway and some people have questioned the reliability of DNA sampling methods to detect the presence of Asian carp.  

After the hearing in Ypsilanti, the Conservancy along with Trout Unlimited, the Michigan Steelheaders and other groups wrote congressmen and federal administrators about the need for more hearings throughout the Great Lakes watershed.  “The public needs to be heard on this issue,” said Fijalkowski.

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