GLIN==> HOW Coalition urges Congress to bolster efforts to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes

Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition

CONTACTS:
Andy Buchsbaum, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition
Buchsbaum at nwf.org, (734) 717-3665

Jeff Skelding, Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition
JSkelding at nwf.org , (410) 242-2704

Coalition urges Congress to bolster efforts to keep Asian carp out of
the Great Lakes

Groups say long-term solution requires separating 
the Mississippi River system from Lake Michigan 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (FEB. 25) - The co-chair of the Healing Our
Waters®-Great Lakes Coalition today called on Congress to declare the
Asian carp an imminent threat to the Great Lakes and direct federal
agencies to separate the carp-infested Mississippi River system from
Lake Michigan.

Testifying before the Senate Natural Resources Committee’s
Subcommittee on Water and Power, coalition co-chair Andy Buchsbaum urged
Congress to give the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers a new mission: Stop
the movement of live organisms between the Mississippi River system and
the Great Lakes.
	
The Healing Our Waters®-Great Lakes Coalition, which represents 114
conservation groups and other organizations in the region, wants
Congress to direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine how
best to separate the Mississippi River system from Lake Michigan. The
Corps is currently studying whether it is feasible to create an
ecological barrier in a manmade canal that links two of North
America’s largest freshwater ecosystems.

“Ecological separation is essential for the Great Lakes - it is the
only way of safeguarding the lakes from Asian carp,” Buchsbaum said.
“Anything short of separation will fail sooner or later.”

Buchsbaum said Congress should direct the Corps to complete a study of
how to separate the Mississippi River system from Lake Michigan by
mid-2011, and then implement the report’s conclusions.

In his testimony, Buchsbaum also called on the federal agencies to
quickly design and implement a contingency plan to stop any further
movement of the invasive carp into Lake Michigan, and to eradicate the
carp that are already in the Chicago Waterway system.

“Even under a best-case scenario, ecological separation will take
time. We have to protect the lakes from Asian carp until the basins are
separated, which could take several years. The agencies need to put into
action a channel-by-channel, lock-by-lock plan to stop the carp from
advancing further.”

Asian bighead carp and silver carp were imported to the U.S. in the
1970s to control algae in commercial fish farms in the southern U.S. The
fish escaped into the Mississippi River in the 1980s and have since
spread to the edge of Lake Michigan via manmade canals in the Chicago
Waterway System.

The invasive fish - which can grow to 100 pounds, hog fish food and
leap out of the water when disturbed by boat motors - pose a serious
threat to the Great Lakes’ $7 billion fishery and $16 billion tourism
industry.

Government agencies recently stepped up Asian carp control efforts
after scientists detected Asian carp DNA in Lake Michigan, near Chicago.


“We recommend that Congress declare Asian carp to be an imminent and
substantial threat to the Great Lakes and that stopping their movement
into the Great Lakes be given the highest priority by the Corps and
other federal agencies as they design and implement short-term and
long-term measures to combat the carp,” Buchsbaum testified.

He praised state and federal agencies working to beat back the Asian
carp invasion. But he said the federal government’s plan fails to
address all potential invasion routes near Chicago and lacks specifics
on what actions will be taken, and when, to keep the menacing fish from
colonizing the Great Lakes. 

“Although it has many useful and potentially effective elements, it
is not nearly enough to protect the Great Lakes,” Buchsbaum said.
“Most fundamentally, it does not shut the door on additional Asian
carp reaching Lake Michigan.”

One of the major flaws in the control strategy is the government’s
long-term solution - a series of studies, none of which commits federal
agencies to taking action. 

Despite a steady flow of bad news about Asian carp, Buchsbaum said
there is still a chance to stop their advance on the Great Lakes before
they begin reproducing in Lake Michigan.

“I believe our biggest challenge is not technical, but political,”
he said.




Marc Smith
Policy Manager
National Wildlife Federation
(w) 734-887-7116
(cell) 734-255-5413

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