Marina Dock Age

At a White House meeting about the Asian carp threat to the Great Lakes, federal officials said they may seek to close navigational locks on Chicago-area waterways for up to three or four days a week, according to a Feb. 8 Chicago Tribune report.

The proposal is only one piece of a $78.5 million, multi-pronged plan to stop the invasive species from establishing a large population in Lake Michigan. Midwest governors attended the White House meeting to help federal officials develop the Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework. The plan includes more than 25 short-term and long-term actions designed to protect the estimated $7 billion commercial and recreational fishing industry in the Great Lakes.

In addition to opening Chicago’s navigational locks less frequently, the strategy plan to block carp movement also includes:

• funding a study to look at the potential impact of permanent lock closing, the effectiveness of lock operations, and alternative methods of keeping the carp out of Lake Michigan
• spending $10.5 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to build a third underwater electric barrier in the Sanitary and Ship Canal near Romeoville, Ill.
• awarding $13.2 million from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to construct concrete and chain link fencing between the canal and the Des Plaines River in case the carp bypass the electric barriers
• committing $5 million for additional toxic chemical treatment, $3 million to expand the commercial market for Asian carp in Illinois, and additional funding to further environmental DNA testing.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn said the plan is a positive step forward. “It balances the urgent need to remove Asian carp for the Chicago-area waterway system with the need to maintain the waterway system for navigation, storm water, and wastewater management,” said Quinn.

Government officials from other states with vested interests in Lake Michigan want to close the locks permanently. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox sued Illinois in an attempt to have the locks closed. After the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, Michigan asked the court to reconsider its decision and filed another suit seeking to separate the manmade connection between the Great Lakes and Mississippi water basins. Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, and Pennsylvania have joined that suit.

Asian carp were originally introduced in Arkansas in the 1960s to clean up algae from sewers and fish hatcheries. After a flood, they escaped into the Mississippi River in the early 1990s and have been migrating north up Midwestern rivers ever since. The fish are voracious eaters, can grow up to four feet long and weigh 100 pounds, and reproduce quickly, displacing native species.

“We have got to hit these carp and beat them back with all of the tools in our toolbox,” said Cameron Davis, a Great Lakes advisor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

While few can deny the potential harm of the Asian Carp invasion, Mark Biel, executive director of the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois, can’t fathom closing the locks permanently. “I don’t think people fully understand the impact of closing these locks,” he said. “Chicago would not be Chicago if not for the shipping access between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.”