GLIN==> Drastic Action Necessary to Save Great Lakes

Alliance for the Great Lakes

For Immediate Release
Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

Contact: Joel Brammeier
773-590-6494

Drastic Action Necessary to Save Great Lakes 

An emergency plan to treat 6 miles of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal with a fish-killing chemical to avert a Great Lakes invasion by the notoriously oversized Asian carp is underscoring the need for a permanent solution.

“Today the carp are backing the Great Lakes into a corner and we need to hit back with everything we’ve got,” said Joel Brammeier, Alliance acting president. “When the deed is done, we’ve got to focus like a laser on separation of the lakes from the Mississippi River so we don’t have to use this drastic technique in the future.”

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave notice today that on Dec. 2, weather permitting, it will shut down the southernmost of two electric barriers in the canal for routine maintenance for four to five days. Erected to keep Asian carp out of Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes, the barrier was turned to high voltage earlier this fall to ward off carp that have been drawing ever-nearer.

Working in concert with the corps, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources plans on Dec. 3 to treat 6 miles of the canal between the barrier and the Lockport Lock and Dam with rotenone – a plant-based pesticide that does not present a risk to people and wildlife when used properly but is deadly to fish. 

The pesticide is needed to prevent any fish from reaching the weaker northern barrier – the final stop before the Asian carp gain passage to the world’s largest surface freshwater system. Illinois EPA water quality experts will be monitoring downstream of the application zone to ensure the waters of the state are protected, and the chemicals do not move beyond the designated application area.

Once the southern barrier is powered down, Brammeier said it would be an open invitation for the carp to swim upstream to the second barrier, the voltage for which cannot be turned high enough to keep out all the fish. With the southern barrier in need of routine maintenance, and the carp circling nearby, the corps and the state have little option today but to use rotenone to stop the fish’s movement upstream.

“This is a price we have to pay to protect the Great Lakes,” said Brammeier, who noted the situation should never have been allowed to reach this point. “And the only way to stop the bills coming due is to eliminate the problem – permanently.”

Crews from the IDNR and other agencies will remove the fish from the canal and dispose of them in a landfill following the procedure. The water in the canal will be treated with potassium permanganate, an antidote that neutralizes the effects of the rotenone.

The Alliance last year issued a report calling for physically separating the Mississippi and Great Lakes basins. The two watersheds are joined by the Sanitary and Ship Canal, an artificial connection engineered more than a century ago to carry Chicago’s wastewater away from Lake Michigan.

The Alliance in October joined other conservation groups in demanding that the corps build an emergency physical barrier between the Sanitary and Ship Canal and the adjacent Des Plaines River, which is infested with Asian carp. The emergency barrier is needed to prevent the carp from being swept into the canal past the electrical barrier in the event of flooding.  

Known to batter boaters and even knock them into the water at the sound of a passing motor, Asian carp are non-native fish that are already seriously damaging the environment and economy of the Mississippi River and threaten to do the same in the Great Lakes. 

The carp, specifically the bighead and silver carp, are voracious filter feeders that can grow to more than 4 feet long, weigh up to 100 pounds and quickly dominate a body of water by gobbling up the same food that sustains native fish populations. 

If the carp make their way into the Great Lakes, they could devastate the region's $4.5 billion fishing industry and change forever how recreational boaters, anglers and tourists relate to the lakes.

Brammeier said anyone who doubts the seriousness of the Asian carp threat to the Great Lakes should view videos on YouTube showing the carps’ devastation of portions of the upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers. “A picture is worth a thousand words – or in this case, a thousand flying fish,” he said. 

Asian carp video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS7zkTnQVaM
More information, see http://greatlakes.org/barriermaintenance

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Formed in 1970, the Alliance for the Great Lakes is the oldest independent citizens' organization in North America. Its mission is to conserve and restore the world's largest freshwater resource using policy, education and local efforts, ensuring a healthy Great Lakes and clean water for generations of people and wildlife. More about the Alliance for the Great Lakes is online at www.greatlakes.org. 



Susan Campbell
Communications Manager
Alliance for the Great Lakes
414-540-0699
Visit http://www.greatlakes.org



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