Green Junction - Invasive Carp

  Invasive carp (bighead and silver carp, also called Asian carp) are fish species that are native to China, but invasive to the United States. These fish were introduced to America in the 1970s when fish farms in the southern part of the country used the carp to clean aquaculture facilities since these fish are filter feeders. It is speculated that when the facilities flooded, the Asian carp escaped into the local rivers and by the 1980s were found in the Mississippi River basin. They rapidly thrived, outcompeted many natural species and moved north. They now can be found in 12 states. Their presence in the Illinois River, which connects to the Great Lakes through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, is of great concern.

                For the past few decades, people have been worried that the carp, which can reach 110 pounds (the average size of bighead carp is about 40 pounds) could bypass Chicago and enter the Great Lakes. The potential for ecosystem devastation from this invasion is enormous, in addition to losses in boating, fishing and tourism. After years of studies, plans to keep the carp out of the Great Lakes have culminated into the Brandon Road Interbasin Project, designed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

This is a $1.15 billion barricade to keep the Asian carp from entering the channel that connects the Mississippi River Basin with the Great Lakes. The lock and dam upgrade will generate a bubble wall, acoustic blasts, an electric barrier, and a flushing mechanism to keep the carp from passing through. Over the past years, government programs that pay fishermen an extra 10 cents per pound of carp have held the populations of the carp down, but this infrastructure is required to keep the carp from entering the Great Lakes and inflicting devastation on the fresh water ecosystems. These large fish have no natural predators in the fresh water lakes. 

                It is critically important to protect the Great Lakes that provide drinking water to over 40 million people in the United States and Canada. These fresh water lakes contain about one-fifth of the world’s fresh surface water supply and 84% of North America's surface fresh water.  According to the Great Lakes Commission, “Healthy lakes are critical for our economy, and our culture, the environment, but they require constant care.”