Plan to combat Asian carp lacks sense of urgency

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By Jim Morris, Contributing Writer 10:41 PM Saturday, February 20, 2010

Nero is fiddling. Rome is burning.

That’s the way I see the Asian carp problem when it comes to protecting the Great Lakes.

The Obama Administration released its plan last week to deal with the huge problem that is centered on the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal and a couple of locks used to send boats back and forth between the canal and Lake Michigan.

The White House plan is extensive — more than 25 points to consider, study and eventually act upon ... very comprehensive.

The point is: This is not a time for study. It is a time for action. You can study the problem for long-term solutions if you want. In fact, that is a good idea. But if you wait to study it before acting, all the horses will have left the barn.

Nobody knows how long it would take Asian carp to migrate in numbers large enough to reproduce in Lake Erie. In the case of another invasive, the round goby, it did not take more than a couple of years before they gained the foothold they continue to have across the lakes right now.

Roger Knight, who heads the Lake Erie Research Unit for the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said there have been three bighead carp found in Lake Erie over the years, but there is no evidence they have reproduced there. The last one discovered was in 2003.

Since Asian carp seem to thrive in river systems, such as the Mississippi and Illinois rivers, Knight sees the Maumee River as a prime target if the Asians do move into Lake Erie.

He said areas like Sandusky Bay, the Sandusky River and other tributaries also would provide good habitat for bighead and silver carp.

Knight said Ohio’s position, as a participant in a lawsuit along with Michigan and other states, has been to close the navigational locks as the best method of keeping the carp out. He also fears they — like the gobies before them — could easily be transported to the Great Lakes in the ballast water of large ships.

With the shipping lobby and everyone who makes a living using the canal on its back, the White House is trying to juggle one economic problem against another. If you shut down the canal now, you will force shippers to use trucks or rail to move commodities such as corn, thus costing millions of dollars more. But if the Asian carp get a foothold in the Great Lakes, the cost to the fishing industry would be in the billions.

The White House would be willing to throw $78.5 million at the problem, including money for new electric barriers to be constructed along the Des Plaines River to prevent carp from passing through in case of floods.

So what’s the big deal, some might ask. So what if a few carp slip through into the Great Lakes? It is a very big deal because Asian carp take over areas and other fish cannot survive.

According to one report, both species can grow up to four feet long and 100 pounds.

“It would be the second-largest fish in Lake Erie, behind the sturgeon,” Knight said.

Females can carry up to a million eggs and spawn multiple times each season. And just two little carp carried from one body of water to another in somebody’s minnow bucket could get it all started.

For a look at the government’s plan, visit AsianCarp.org.

Outdoors columnist Jim Morris can be reached through his Web site at www.tinyurl.com/ylh2rol or by e-mail at sports@ DaytonDailyNews.com.

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