For
Immediate Release
November
10, 2008
Contacts:
Mark
Coscarelli (Great Lakes Fishery Trust)
517-371-7461
Marc
Gaden (Great Lakes Fishery Commission)
734-417-8012
ALLIANCE FOR THE GREAT LAKES RELEASES STUDY ABOUT CHICAGO
WATERWAY SYSTEM
Study
outlines steps to help stop the spread of invasive species—like Asian
carp—through Chicago-area canals
LANSING AND
ANN ARBOR, MI—The Great Lakes Fishery Commission and the Great
Lakes Fishery Trust today announced the release of a three-year study by
the Alliance for the Great Lakes that takes a first look at stopping the
transfer of invasive species between the Great Lakes and Mississippi River
systems. While an electrical dispersal barrier currently provides some
control on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship canal, long term solutions are needed
to further reduce the risk of invasions. The report, co-funded by the
Fishery Trust and the Fishery Commission, is the first systematic look at
commercial and recreational traffic on the waterway and at potential, long term
solutions to prevent biological transfers. The study was funded pursuant
to a recommendation from an Invasive Species Summit meeting convened in 2003 by
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley that called for a project to examine long-term
solutions to reduce the risk of invasive species in the waterway. The
complete report produced by the Alliance for the Great Lakes is available on
the Alliance’s website at www.greatlakes.org/invasivespecies/gateways.
The
Chicago Waterway System, a series of canals built in the 1800s that famously
“reversed the flow” of the Chicago River to improve sanitation, artificially
connects the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. The waterway
serves as a transportation corridor and provides access for recreational
boaters. The connection, however, also is a conduit for invasive species,
with zebra mussels and round gobies moving from the Great Lakes to the
Mississippi basin and with Asian carp currently threatening to enter the Great
Lakes from the Mississippi. With increasing global trade, the threat of
invasive species is only expected to grow.
“Invasive
species continue to pose one of the biggest threats to the future of the Great
Lakes and the Chicago waterway is a direct link for species to enter Lake
Michigan,” said Rebecca Humphries, Chair of the Great Lakes Fishery Trust
and Director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. “This study
helps establish a course to address this important link,” she said.
“With
the benefit of hindsight the Great Lakes and Mississippi systems should never
have been connected in so direct a way,” added Great Lakes Fishery
Commission chair Michael Hansen, a professor at the University of
Wisconsin—Stevens Point. “Our task now is to find permanent
and effective solutions to the threat that this waterway poses. The
commission calls upon the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to consider the
Alliance’s recommendations and launch a full-scale study, with the
ultimate goal of achieving long term separation between the two basins.”
The Great Lakes Fishery
Trust is an innovative funding program created in 1996 as part of a
settlement with Consumers Energy and the Detroit Edison Company for fish losses
caused by the operation of the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant on Lake Michigan.
The trust provides funding to educational institutions, nonprofit
organizations, and government agencies to improve and protect the Great
Lakes fishery.
The Great Lakes Fishery
Commission was established by the United States and Canada through the 1954
Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries. The commission supports fisheries
research, controls the invasive sea lamprey, and facilitates the implementation
of provincial, state, and tribal fisheries management agreements. For
more information about the commission, visit www.glfc.int.
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Marc Gaden, PhD
Communications Director and Legislative Liaison
Great Lakes Fishery Commission
2100 Commonwealth Blvd. Ste 100
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
734-662-3209 x. 14
marc@glfc.org
www.glfc.org
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