[quote] TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) -- The Obama administration will spend about $50 million this year to shield the Great Lakes from greedy Asian carp, including first-time water sampling to determine whether the destructive fish have established a foothold in Lakes Michigan and Erie, officials said Thursday.
An updated federal strategy for preventing an invasion also includes stepped-up trapping and netting in rivers that could provide access to the lakes, as well as initial field tests of chemicals that could lure carp to where they could be captured, officials told The Associated Press. An acoustic water gun that could scare the carp away from crucial locations will be tested near a Chicago-area shipping lock that some want closed because it could serve as a doorway to Lake Michigan.
"This strategy builds on the unprecedented and effective plan we are implementing to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes while we determine the best long-term solution," said John Goss, the Asian carp program director for the White House Council on Environmental Quality. He said initiatives in 2012 would "strengthen our defenses against Asian carp and move even more innovative carp control projects from research into implementation."
The federal government has already budgeted more than $100 million over the past two years in the fight against bighead and silver carp. They were imported from Asia decades ago and have migrated up the Mississippi River and its tributaries since escaping from fish farms and sewage lagoons in the Deep South. They have infested the Illinois River, which leads to Lake Michigan.
The carp eat massive amounts of plankton - tiny plants and animals at the base of the aquatic food web. Scientists differ about how widely they would spread in the Great Lakes, but under worst-case scenarios they could severely damage the $7 billion fishing industry.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is studying how to stop species migrations between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds, particularly through rivers and canals in the Chicago area. Five states - Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania - are suing in federal court to speed up the study, due for completion in 2015.
Several independent studies, including a report last month by the Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, have called for placing barriers in the Chicago waterways to sever a manmade link between the two drainage basins. Environmentalists favor doing so, but Chicago business interests oppose it, saying it would damage the region's economy and cause flooding.
The Obama administration has not endorsed separating the systems. Goss told the AP the idea "deserves complete analysis" but said he was concerned about estimates the job would take nearly two decades.
"That's why the technologies we're working on for Asian carp control and detection are very important," he said.
The centerpiece of the federal effort to protect the lakes is an electronic barrier network in a shipping canal southwest of Chicago. The administration's plan calls for expanded underwater surveillance this year to make sure it's keeping the carp at bay.
Dozens of water samples taken beyond the barrier in recent years have contained Asian carp DNA, although just one actual carp has been found there. Expanded sampling this year will look for signs of the invaders at about 10 locations in southern Lake Michigan and western Lake Erie. They are considered among the likeliest places in the Great Lakes where the carp could become established, partly because of nearby tributary rivers suitable for spawning.
Crews also will use nets and other devices to look for carp in those areas, Goss said. Although there's no evidence they have reached any of the lakes, "we want to do valid sampling of fish populations and hopefully confirm that no carp are there," he said.
Commercial fishermen have been hired to reduce carp numbers in the Illinois River below the barrier. They'll be provided with new types of nets and other equipment this year to boost the harvest, Goss said. "As the population is reduced in that area, they're becoming more difficult to catch with traditional netting," he said.
The underwater gun, which emits piercing blasts of pressure and sound, will be tested near the O'Brien Lock in Chicago, which Michigan and other states have asked federal courts to close because the carp could swim through it to reach Lake Michigan.
"We're working on a possible strategy to fire these guns prior to opening locks to deter fish from coming into the area," Goss said.
Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey are developing pheromones - chemical extracts that could steer the carp to where they could be caught. They will undergo initial field testing this year. Progress also is expected on producing food pellets that would poison Asian carp without harming other fish, Goss said.
The administration plans to intensify a crackdown on smuggling of live Asian carp across state lines and the U.S.-Canadian border. Thousands of pounds have been seized at the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, in recent years.
Some funding for the Asian carp program has come from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a federal plan to fix the region's biggest environmental problems. President Barack Obama has requested $300 million for the program in 2013 on top of $1 billion appropriated since 2008.
"We're getting results in shielding the Great Lakes from invasive species," said Cameron Davis, a senior adviser with the Environmental Protection Agency.[/quote]
[url]http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_GREAT_LAKES_ASIAN_CARP?SITE=WVEC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT[/url]
I was expecting a Cock-fighting-esque story
I was disapointed...
Spend those $50 million on me instead.
[QUOTE=madmax678;34831651]I was expecting a Cock-fighting-esque story
I was disapointed...[/QUOTE]
I was expecting some kind of Michael Vick style goldfish tank knife fights.
[QUOTE=Jessey;34831655]Spend those $50 million on me instead.[/QUOTE]
No. Asian carp are one hell of a nuisance in the Great Lakes over here.
Give me 20 grand of that $50 million and I'll be a happy camper.
OP makes it sound as if this is bad.
A fiver would make me happy as hell.
Then again, I'd whore myself out for a curly wurly.
If you want you government to give you shit for doing nothing, move to a socialist country instead of a capitalist state.
[QUOTE=UseLets;34834463]If you want you government to give you shit for doing nothing, move to a socialist country instead of a capitalist state.[/QUOTE]
my relevance meter is off the scale
without prevention it could lead to really negative effects on the fishing industry though. im glad they're doing this
[QUOTE=Bobie;34834482]my relevance meter is off the scale
without prevention it could lead to really negative effects on the fishing industry though. im glad they're doing this[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=faze;34834437]Give me 20 grand of that $50 million and I'll be a happy camper.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Jessey;34831655]Spend those $50 million on me instead.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=Terminutter;34834444]A fiver would make me happy as hell.
Then again, I'd whore myself out for a curly wurly.[/QUOTE]
Pretty much the first page of the thread comments is relevant to what I said.
[QUOTE=UseLets;34834502]Pretty much the first page of the thread comments is relevant to what I said.[/QUOTE]
Ever hear of sarcasm?
[QUOTE=faze;34834510]Ever hear of sarcasm?[/QUOTE]
What was the point in being sarcastic if it wasn't even remotely funny. I thought you guys were legitimately occupy supporters or some shit.
Money well spent, if you lived on a state bordering the lake you'd understand and new york how dare you call your self a great lake state.
[QUOTE=UseLets;34834549]What was the point in being sarcastic if it wasn't even remotely funny. I thought you guys were legitimately occupy supporters or some shit.[/QUOTE]
Not my problem if you don't think it's funny.
Unlike the Gobys[that actually became an important food in the ecosystem] these fuckers will become nothing more then a nuisance which will cause mass-damage to the fishing industries of Erie/Michigan.
Why not just declare open season on them with NO limits. Better yet for every fish someone brings in they get $2.
10 fish = $20
5,000 fish = 10 grand, vs $50 million.
Your welcome government.
[QUOTE=Phaselancer;34834649]Why not just declare open season on them with NO limits. Better yet for every fish someone brings in they get $2.
10 fish = $20
5,000 fish = 10 grand, vs $50 million.
Your welcome government.[/QUOTE]
Its a international lake.
Asian carp must die. Kill every. Last. One. In American lakes. It should be illegal to catch and release these fish. Kill on sight.
[QUOTE=Phaselancer;34834649]Why not just declare open season on them with NO limits. Better yet for every fish someone brings in they get $2.
10 fish = $20
5,000 fish = 10 grand, vs $50 million.
Your welcome government.[/QUOTE]Far too destructive, and will not solve the problem.
[url=http://www.livescience.com/13482-eating-asian-carp-fish-invasive-species.html] For anyone suggesting we catch these fish in mass numbers... We're trying. [/url]
Asian fish are stealing American fishes jobs.
More at 11.
[QUOTE=OvB;34834848]Asian carp must die. Kill every. Last. One. In American lakes. It should be illegal to catch and release these fish. Kill on sight.[/QUOTE]
The great lakes arent American though. They're Canadian and American.
[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;34834623]Unlike the Gobys[that actually became an important food in the ecosystem] these fuckers will become nothing more then a nuisance which will cause mass-damage to the fishing industries of Erie/Michigan.[/QUOTE]
You mean like how Zebra Mussels totally fucked the lakes up in the 90's?
[QUOTE=UseLets;34834893]The great lakes arent American though. They're Canadian and American.[/QUOTE]
Yes but these fish invaded from the south through rivers. It has yet to hit canada as bad as it has us.
[QUOTE=OvB;34834965]Yes but these fish invaded from the south through rivers. It has yet to hit canada as bad as it has us.[/QUOTE]
Hold on so you're saying American fish are invading Canadian lakes? Thats a act of war.
[QUOTE=MIPS;34834942]You mean like how Zebra Mussels totally fucked the lakes up in the 90's?[/QUOTE]
They've been in the lakes since the 70's... Not much we can do against them sadly...
[QUOTE=UseLets;34834439]OP makes it sound as if this is bad.[/QUOTE]
[u]Sensationalist[/u] news.
[QUOTE=UseLets;34834979]Hold on so you're saying American fish are invading Canadian lakes? Thats a act of war.[/QUOTE]
Fish from asia invaded the states and are pushing their way north.
I've heard though... Silver Carp taste like Pappermouth. If thats the case... 45 Pounds of meat, and all I gotta do is bow n' arrow them in low water... Sounds easy enough.
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