Carp Crisis: Addressing Asian Carp Ailment Around the Great Lakes

Andy Soergel and Shawn Swaney

Premise:

We are environmentalists examining the origins of the Asian Carp dilemma and weighing the pros and cons of potential solutions, hoping to solidify a plan that could be proposed to Congress.

Flying Fish?

Fish can break bones! Video shows a man with a black eye and

broken nose from a jumping carp Families commonly go to the Great

Lakes, so these dangerous fish could seriously diminish tourist profits as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGWiaqGjQaU&feature=related

Why are they here?

Silver and bighead carp in particular aggressively feed on plankton This is helpful to aquaculture, as carp

eat many types of plankton and phytoplankton that cause algal blooms

Believed to have originally escaped in aquaculture farms in Arkansas during intense flooding

Escaping fish

The fish used in these ponds often escape through flooding, or, in the case of some carp, jumping

New outdoor aquaculture ponds are being developed, which could involve the import of even more of an already invasive species

Native fish are impacted by Global Warming too!

Rising temperatures also means suitability for native fish is moving northward Suitable rivers for warmwater fish are

expected to rise by 31% across the US This means an estimated 19 fish species

will invade the lower Great Lakes and another 8 lower Great Lakes species will invade the upper Great Lakes

Types of Carp in the Water Common carp (Cyprinus carpio) were brought to the United States

from Europe around 1831, mostly to be placed in private ponds. 

Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) were imported from Asia around 1963 to help control plant quality in aquaculture ponds  Found in the Missisippi River near Illinois in 1971 

Silver carp (Hypophthal- michthys molotrix) and bighead carp (H. nobilis) were imported from China to help manage algal blooms and water quality in ponds in 1973

  Found in Mississippi River near Illinois around 1982

  Many more of these carp escaped during the Great Mississippi

Floods of 1993  

Why is this an issue (other than broken noses)

These fish breed rapidly and quickly spread in a waterway

They threaten to starve native species to the Illinois River, Mississippi River, and Great Lakes Plankton-eating species like the gizzard shad

(Dorosoma cepedianum) and bigmouth buffalo Ictiobus cyprinellus) at risk

They also threaten to disrupt food chains and food webs from a micro- to macroscopic level

Is this a realistic threat to the Great Lakes?

Lake Michigan should theoretically lack sufficient plankton to support long-term carp populations

However, because the average water temperature of Lake Michigan rarely exceeds 20˚C, the fish can maintain their body mass on the present plankton supplies over a 30-day period.

Over 30 days in 20˚C water, the average carp can travel over 40km, easily accessing other waterways with higher concentrations of plankton

What if the native fish species are wiped out?

The Great Lakes annually provides about $7 billion to the US economy in fishing-related profits

This could be HUGELY affected by the invasive carp

What the government has done The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers completed

an electric fence in 2006 to combat the fish Cost $9 million This barrier is also potentially harmful to other

fish life, not just carp It isn’t actually working very well… Safety for humans was inconclusive; this could

be a big problem if someone fell in the water in the middle of the barrier

There are now three of these fences set up around Chicago

…Toxins?

These toxins, used to repel fish during fence maintenance, cost over $3 million and take 2 weeks to clean up In 2009, this effort killed 200,000

pounds of fish, of which only one pound was Asian carp.

Did they get all the toxins? Aren’t we eating other fish from these rivers?

So what can we do with this money?

Build more fences? Build a dam? Close off Chicago Sanitary and Ship

Canal? Eat all of them? Do nothing?

Build more fences—Pros:

We already know what we’re doing We’re stopping most of the fish

already One of the least expensive solutions The government and the US Army

Corps of Engineers both support this move

Build more fences—Cons:

Fish smaller than 6 inches in length can still get through

Disrupting non-carp fish patterns The maintenance and toxin use is risky Boats and other crafts are getting shocked,

which is bad for the electronics on board The shocks could be potentially harmful to

humans and other species Is shocking and stunning/paralyzing fish

unethical?

Build a dam—Pros:

A flood-control dam could limit fish entering the Great Lakes

Provides extra water supply Flood control in Chicago currently

dumps floodwater into Lake Michigan If the fish get much closer, this water

disposal method could dump carp caught in the water into the Great Lakes▪ A flood-control dam could prevent this

Build a dam—Cons:

The Great Lakes are right there; no one needs an extra water supply

Would severely alter downstream activity of the Illinois Would negatively impact the ecological integrity of the

region about as much as an unrestrained carp population Sediment build-up $$$$$$ Second most expensive solution Impractical In the time it takes to construct a dam, the fish could

already penetrate the electric barrier and make it to Lake Michigan

The Army Corps has identified over a dozen waterways through which carp can get to the Great Lakes other than up the Illinois River, so this could be useless

Build a Dam—Cons (cont.) The Des Plaines River runs just parallel to

the Illinois (only yards apart in some places) Flooding often causes the fish species of each

river to inter-mix If the carp get far enough North along the

Illinois River, it is only a matter of time before they spread to Des Plaines and literally around the electric barrier, into Lake Michigan

So damming one water way could be a total waste

Close off Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal—Pros:

This is the most reliable way to completely avoid the carp from entering the Great Lakes

There would be relatively few environmental repercussions

The fish could be isolated and dealt with more effectively

Returns Great Lakes to original ecological integrity before the canal was built

Close off Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal—Cons:

This waterway is currently the only channel connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the St. Lawrence Seaway Every year, over a million tons of goods travel through

the this waterway; closing the canal could result in huge losses in the trading industry

Lots of trade comes through this region that would need to reroute; more expensive to trade and ship items

Can the government justify spending so much money and then losing money in the trade industry?

Four consecutive Supreme Court decisions go against this drastic action

Carp and the Supreme Court The US Supreme Court has voted to stay out of

the fish fray on four separate occasions Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and

Pennsylvania requested that the Army Corps of Engineers install two nets in Chicago rivers to cut fish off while the Canal was filled▪ Denied; too drastic, expensive, and time consuming (two

decades!) This would lead to a permanent solution that would

involve closing off the manmade Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, which connects Canadian waterways with the Mississippi River and eventually the Gulf of Mexico

Filling in the Canal

Costs from $3 billion at the very cheapest and least environmentally friendly to around $9.5 billion Taxpayer dollars and government funds

would subsidize this project The aforementioned lawsuit of the five

states vs. the Army Corps is still pending a ruling in a federal district court, but prospects are not great

Eat them—Pros:

Fish would become much less expensive if we utilized this resource to its fullest 85% of fish in the United States are

imported, which raises costs Carp are healthy and would help with

nutritionally sound diets Least expensive alternative Creates jobs for fishermen Least environmentally invasive

Asian Carp Solution

Name of a chain of Asian Carp merchants, not the actual solution

Chef Philippe Parola insists he has found a way to make the fish both delicious and incredibly profitable Chinese consider the fish a delicacy, so they are

actually surprised we are not eating these fish up “Chinese ‘foodies’ must join battle and rescue

the Americans! The Obama Administration will reimburse you for eating steamed fish head with chopped peppers.” –Tweet from Chinese media executive

Eat them—Cons:

Fish are described as bloody and bony Many people do not feel that they taste very good If toxins are being used to regulate these fish, do

we really want to eat them in excess? There isn’t enough time or resources to get ALL of

these fish and keep them from entering the Great Lakes

This is not a viable long-term solution Overfishing along Great Lakes tributaries does not

necessarily guarantee that only Asian Carp will get picked up in nets Native species could be adversely impacted/overfished

Do nothing—Pros:

We don’t pay anything Streams across America have

jumping, semi-dangerous fish

Do nothing—Cons:

Great Lakes are invaded The $7 billion fishing industry in the Great Lakes

is compromised The carp take out the Great Lakes food web at its

ankles, eating all the plankton and phytoplankton and overcrowding the native species

The carp invade other Great Lakes tributaries, spreading the carp problem to other waterways

“A failure to address the exotic species problem will likely result in more introductions and potential harmful effects to native biota.” –USGS Asian Carp Analysis

Final analysis

Most economically-sound solution while keeping the environment in mind: Maintain the electric fences

Best decision for the environment: Closing the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal

Most likely solution in 2012: Maintain the electric fences and wait to see

what the Army Corps reports in 2014 Our personal favorite:

Everyone eat carp!