Conservancy Testifies To Keep Asian Carp Out

As is usually the case with environmental issues nothing happens until the country is staring at a calamity and citizens are expressing their outrage to correct the problem.  Even then the government can be plodding.

An example of a disaster in the making is the Asian carp knocking at the door of the Great Lakes.  The alien invaders have been swimming north since a 1973 flood washed them from Arkansas fish farms into the Mississippi River.  For more than 35 years the Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency and numerous state fish and wildlife agencies have documented their progress towards the Great Lakes. 

Finally, in 2008 the people of the Great Lakes basin expressed their concern about these fish entering the lakes and Congress acted.  They required the Corps of Engineers to prevent the fish from passing to the Great Lakes by studying the alternatives for a physical separation of the two watersheds.

Government then swung into action.  The Council on Environmental Quality appointed a Carp Czar (no, really) to wrestle this perplexing problem.  The Czar himself seems an admirable fellow and he is spending his days helping to dole out piles of cash to every research university in the Great Lakes watershed.  They are researching the natural history of the Asian carp, how the fish will adapt to colder Great Lakes water, which streams will make the best home for the Asian carp, even finding markets for Asian carp flesh.  They are busy; after all, they only had until 2015 to complete their work – or so they thought.  After learning of the Corps of Engineer’s 5-year study plans Congress is modifying their instructions, asking for the completed study in 18 months. 

At a recent hearing in Ann Arbor the Corps of Engineers declared they would do their best to meet the Congressional deadline.  Citizens at the hearing probed the Corps of Engineers on a number of issues including the meaning of the word “prevent,” the seeming lack of urgency and providing our Canadian neighbors an opportunity to address the issue of Asian carp in the Great Lakes.

The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy testimony on this important issue is summarized in the following points:

1.      We want no chance of the Asian carp getting into Lake Michigan.  The Corps of Engineers announced they would study ways to “reduce the risk” of Asian carp getting in.  That is not what Congress mandated be done.  The act says to study alternatives that “prevent” exotic species from transferring between watersheds.

2.      The Canadian citizens bordering the Great Lakes have just as much to lose as we Americans.  Hearings in Canada to receive their concerns is a must.  What we do in Chicago may create an international incident, one that could hurt relations between our countries for a long time.

3.      We are troubled by the Corps of Engineers fixation on the electrical barriers.  After a physical separation is completed the barriers can be dismantled.  The only guaranteed way to keep Asian carp out of Lake Michigan is to separate the two systems.

4.      We don’t have until 2015 to start construction.  Eighteen months seems a reasonable time frame to study alternatives.

The Michigan Wildlife Conservancy has also joined with more than one hundred other conservation groups in the Great Lakes area to offer Congressional input on the Asian carp and the many other threats to our Lakes.  The Michigan conservation community has come together to protect the waters that surround us.

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