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Post by ppat324 on Oct 18, 2010 17:55:58 GMT -5
5 States Make Final Pitch To Close Locks To Carp States' Attorney Tells Federal Judge Evidence Of Asian Carp Threat To Great Lakes Is Solid Font size PrintE-mailShare.(AP) CHICAGO (AP) - The reliability of DNA testing that suggests Asian carp may already be in waterways near Lake Michigan was the focus of final arguments Monday in a five-state lawsuit seeking the closure of Chicago-area shipping locks to keep the carp out.
Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin say closing the locks would ensure the invasive fish won't overrun the Great Lakes and decimate a $7 billion-a-year fishing industry.
Judge Robert Dow's questions during a three-hour hearing Monday focused on the reliability of environmental DNA tests that indicate the fish may already be near Lake Michigan.
Speaking for the states, Robert Reichel, said the science that looks only for genetic traces of live carp is solid and proves the fish could slip into Lake Michigan any day.
Dow says he'll likely make a decision within several weeks.
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Post by skycheney on Oct 18, 2010 18:51:04 GMT -5
We need to stop these before they mate with the locals. Randy, is that you?
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Post by ppat324 on Oct 18, 2010 19:12:51 GMT -5
We need to stop these before they mate with the locals. Randy, is that you? They will mate with the robbys of the world...LOL ppat
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Post by ppat324 on Oct 25, 2010 6:22:28 GMT -5
PEARL, Ill. (AP) - An Illinois company hopes to cash in on the invasive Asian carp that have infested the Illinois River and now threaten the Great Lakes. Big River Fish Corp. in the southwestern town of Pearl plans to catch them and sell them. The company has a $2 million federal grant to expand its operation and a contract to send 30 million pounds of the carp to a Chinese company. The fish will be marketed as “wild Mississippi River fish.” Big River Fish will move most of its operation to a former birdhouse factory in Griggsville sometime in early 2011. Government officials and environmental groups of trying to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes. They can grow to 100 pounds, and many fear they could devastate the Great Lakes fishing industry by outcompeting native fish for food.
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Post by Avenger on Oct 25, 2010 10:57:15 GMT -5
If the Asian market can do for them what they've done for Bluefin Tuna there's hope yet!
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Post by ppat324 on Nov 3, 2010 6:12:56 GMT -5
Coast Guard announces temporary vessel traffic restrictions on Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal
11/3 - Chicago, Ill. – The Coast Guard announces temporary waterway restrictions for vessel traffic on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Nov. 3-5 from 6 a.m.-6 p.m. from mile-marker 296.1-296.7.
These vessel traffic restrictions are necessary for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to continue construction of the electric dispersal barrier in effort to prevent the passage of Asian carp into the Great Lakes.
To support these actions, the U.S. Coast Guard will activate a safety zone on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Vessel traffic will not be permitted to transit through the zone during periods of work. However, every effort will be made to allow vessels to transit when work is no longer taking place.
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Post by ppat324 on Nov 14, 2010 14:20:58 GMT -5
Carp could enter Lake Erie from Maumee or Cuyahoga, Army engineers say
11/14 - Toledo, Ohio - Asian carp could be threatening Lake Erie sooner than later -- but through the back door.
That's the conclusion of a new study by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, even as officials affirm that the route through the Chicago Sanitary system -- the front door in the Asian carp war -- remains the greater concern.
In that scenario, the greatly feared invasive fish would breach an electric barrier, get into Lake Michigan and down to the lower lakes.
Although the public knows the big fish mostly because they jump violently, almost comically, out of the water when startled, they are also invasive species that usually overwhelm native sport fish like perch and walleye.
But there is increasing anxiety that the voracious carp -- which consumes plankton that other fish now eat and grows up to 80 pounds or more -- could find other watery ways into paths into Lake Erie. The lake is considered the most vulnerable because its western basin is both shallower and warmer than the other lakes.
To do that, the carp would have to make it up into streams that connect to the Ohio or Mississippi -- and then cross over the divide and into the Lake Erie watershed, most likely in times of flooding.
Certainly, the species has done it before: The native Asian fish was brought to America decades ago to essentially clean the algae out of ponds in southern states, but broke out into nearby rivers -- eventually the Mississippi -- during heavy floods and worked its way north toward the Great Lakes.
Now, the Army Corps has identified 36 locations along the division of the Great Lakes and Mississippi watersheds (in addition to Chicago) -- which could "establish a hydraulic connection in the right weather."
About half of those possible pathways are of enough concern to study further, and fewer than six are of the gravest concern, said John Goss, director of Asian Carp for the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
The top two have Ohio connections.
The most likely courses for a back-door entry into Lake Erie are through the Maumee River (from the Wabash River in Indiana) near Toledo or the Ohio and Erie Canal (from Long Lake in Summit County), according to the Army Corps report. The threat that carp could cross into the lakes from those sites was deemed "acute" by the Army Corps.
The report also identifies more than a half-dozen other less likely, but still possible, spots for carp crossings in the state where the Great Lakes watershed intersects the Ohio River watershed.
"These are the areas where we need to focus our study so that we aren't outflanked by the Asian carp," Goss said by telephone from a news conference in Chicago on Tuesday.
Goss and Maj. Gen. John W. Peabody, an Army Corp engineer, presented the study Tuesday. They also laid out a $25 million, five-year plan to study further how to stop not only Asian carp, but dozens of other invasive species from going either direction -- from the river system into the lakes or from the lakes into the rivers.
Go to lrc.usace.army.mil to read the 217-page study, which encompasses parts of 17 states, including the eight states that touch on the Great Lakes.
The primary focus of the continued study will be on Chicago waterways, because that's where canals provide a direct connection between the two basins, officials said.
An Ohio carp expert agreed -- and was suspect of the government spending too much time studying other pathways.
"The single biggest threat is the Chicago Sanitary Canal and there needs to be a permanent physical, and ecological separation of the canal from Lake Michigan -- that's it," said David Kelch of Ohio Sea Grant.
A judge in U.S. District Court in Chicago is currently considering doing just that at the request of a number of Great Lakes states, including Ohio -- permanently closing off Lake Michigan from the Chicago river system with physical barriers. As of now, only an underwater "electric fence" is in place in the Chicago canal to try to stave off the invasion.
The migration of carp into the lakes from sites other than Chicago is not a certainty, however.
For one, rivers in Ohio and in other Great Lakes states, may be too cold for carp to thrive, however, said Eugene Braig, assistant director at Ohio State University's Stone Lab.
"But that connection of the Wabash to the Maumee is of the most concern," he said. "That's an experiment I don't think we want to see played out."
Still, officials aren't taking any chances: Construction crews in Indiana in late October finished installing a nearly 1,200-foot-long fence designed to prevent carp from getting out of the Wabash River, into the nearby Eagle Marsh and then into the Maumee.
An 8-foot-tall chain-link fence was erected at Eagle Marsh near Fort Wayne.
Secondly, dams in rivers in Ohio and elsewhere -- often derided by ecologists as damaging to rivers because they prevent fish migrations -- may actually provide the best hope for keeping carp from getting into Lake Erie from the rivers,
"Those dams could make a difference," Maj. Gen Peabody said. "That's something we need more information on because they could hold the line for a while."
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Post by ppat324 on Nov 14, 2010 20:06:38 GMT -5
www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7054602n&tag=related;photovideoFighting "Flying" Fish on the Illinois River Outdoorsman Chris Brackett took on the challenge of hunting Silver Asian Carp and inadvertently created a new sport: Extreme Aerial Bowfishing. John Blackstone reports. (CBS) The Army Corps of Engineers reported last week that the vicious Asian Silver Carp seems to have eluded an electronic barrier on the Illinois River and may have reached Lake Michigan. While the Army may find the carp fight daunting, one civilian angler thinks he's found the answer. CBS News correspondent John Blackstone reports when outsdoorsman Chris Brackett sets out on a fishing trip, he comes armed for combat. "Let the battle begin," he says. The river looks deceptively calm but one-by-one, then two by two, the enemy makes himself known. The Asian Silver Carp is the scourge of the Illinois River but a star on YouTube. Imported to keep fish farms algae-free, the carp escaped during Midwest floods and now dominates many waterways. Vibrations from outboard motors scare the carp, setting off their notorious and frenzied flight. "It was one of them deals where a redneck says, 'Watch this!'" says Brackett. Like any good river rat, Brackett saw an opportunity. "I hit the first fish and I knew immediately that it was going to be something cool," he says. After he nails one: "Extreme aerial bowfishing!" A sport was born. It sometimes looks like an arcade game but instead of Whack-a-Mole it's Dart-a-Carp. But here, the fish fight back. What began as a goof among friends is now a thriving charter business. "Ain't nothing better!" says sportsman Sam Wise. Country music star Craig Morgan, who also hosts a hunting and fishing show on the Outdoor Channel, saw "Brackett's Racket" online but was unconvinced. "Everybody said this was pretty intense but I jumped out of planes and rode dirt bikes for fun. I mean after all, it's just fish." But what fish! You'd have to call this a target-rich environment. It's hard to say whether Morgan had more fun as the hunter or as the hunted. Shooting fish in a barrel? Maybe. But it does take patience and steady aim. Quick reflexes help too. Beware: Brackett says the Silver Carp is cross-breeding with its heftier cousin the Big Head Carp. Next year could be the season of 50 to 60 pounders. "Killer fish man, killer fish," says Brackett. "We're gonna need bigger cages."
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Post by ppat324 on Dec 2, 2010 7:19:53 GMT -5
Congress bans imports of invasive bighead carp
Congress has approved a ban on most imports of bighead carp, one of two Asian species that are threatening to enter the Great Lakes.
The bill cleared the Senate last month, and the House approved it Wednesday. The measure now goes to President Barack hateful muslim traitor for his signature. Under the bill, bighead carp would be added to a list of wildlife species that cannot be brought into the U.S. or taken across state lines. The only exceptions would be for scientific, medical or educational purposes and would require a permit. Bighead and silver carp have infested waterways in the Chicago area. Authorities are trying to prevent them from getting into the Great Lakes, where they would compete with native fish for food. Silver carp are already on the banned list.
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Post by ppat324 on Dec 16, 2010 16:11:07 GMT -5
hateful muslim traitor administration plans stepped-up fight against Asian carp
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — The hateful muslim traitor administration says it will step up efforts to prevent Asian carp from invading the Great Lakes, even though closing Chicago-area shipping locks, as some in the region want to do, is off the table.
Officials on Thursday outlined the federal government’s strategy for meeting the Asian carp threat over the next year.
It follows up on a $78.5 million plan released last February that included strengthening electronic barriers on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which has been completed.
Among new initiatives will be refining the process of detecting the presence of Asian carp by testing water samples for their DNA.
Teams also will study 18 other places across the region identified as potential pathways for invasive species between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin.
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