Asian Carp Barrier Failure and

2010 Asian Carp Control Strategy 

Released; 2010

By: Thomas Marks, NY Director

Great Lakes Sport Fishing Council

716-997-6919 

I can honestly say,  “I told you so.” It is painful to be right in this instance because it means that the Asian carp infesting the Illinois River and Chicago area waterway system have invaded Lake Michigan. In January the release of eDNA test results from samples taken in Lake Michigan confirms my worst fears that Asian carp are in Lake Michigan. The current situation changes all the dynamics for any future Asian Carp Control Strategy Plans. There may be a very small window to halt any further invasion of Lake Michigan by the Asian Carp; this is dependent upon how many carp have reached Lake Michigan. The time for technological barriers in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and Cal-Sag Channel have past; more aggressive measures must be executed. Time has all but run out, we are in the last hours for any control measures, which can succeed at protecting Lake Michigan and the remaining Great Lakes. 
 

What I have been saying for almost the past ten years has been that the efforts to prevent the Asian carp from reaching Lake Michigan have been inadequate. The Army Corps of Engineers poorly executed a plan that had some potential to protect Lake Michigan. The Corps operated with a lack of urgency or intensity on this critical plan when time was not on our side. Poor planning led to the unsatisfactory site selection and the resulting problems. The electric barrier was placed in a less than suitable location to stop Asian carp. The site for the barrier is prone to flooding from the Des Plaines River, which could allow carp to infest areas above the barrier. The permanent electric barrier known as Barrier IIA and Barrier IIB was supposed to cost $9.1 million to be built and be operational in 2005. Delays in construction due to problems with the location of Barrier IIA of the Permanent Electric Barrier pushed the cost much higher, to be completed the price tag has risen to over $16 million. The Barrier IIA portion of the permanent electric barrier was “completed” in April of 2006, however it was not operational until April 2009 that is four years behind schedule. The Barrier IIA, only half of the permanent barrier promised to be built, was allowed to operate initially at only1 volt, a fraction of its rated capability. Safety issues surrounding sparking between a coal loading dock downstream and barges extending into the electric field required an “electricity absorbing” mat to be installed. If Asian carp were detected near the barrier an emergency plan was formulated to increase the power to 2 volts, still only half of its capability and which will be ineffective at repelling all sizes of carp, which its original design was capable of repelling. The power was increased to 2 volts in July of 2009. 
 

I will not dwell on the failures of the Electric Barrier Plan because it is painfully obvious by the presence of Asian carp in Lake Michigan that it has failed. The Army Corps of Engineers and others responsible became fixated on the electric barrier and not on the objective to stop the advance of the Asian carp. They did not carry out the plans that were in place. It was a multi-tired plan, which included continuous monitoring, ecological barriers and ultimately hydrological separation of the two ecosystems.  
 

When spawning populations became established in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers Asian carp expanded their range at almost 20 miles a year but when they reached the Lockport lock the advance stopped. Nobody responsible for Asian Carp control asked why would the carp stop at the lock when they had successfully passed locks further south in the system. Unfortunately the Army Corps of Engineers, Illinois DNR and others watching the carp did not understand that the carp did not stop expanding their range. It was the inadequacy of the survey methods being used to detect the carp in the canal. I had expressed this in 2005 that the methods used, electro-fishing, and nets were not suited for use in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. At that time the carp were about 40 miles from Lake Michigan I had predicted that they would be at the Lake (Michigan) sometime in 2007. It is quite possible the Asian carp arrived as I predicted. In the fall of 2008 a small Lake in Chicago was rotenoned by the Illinois DNR because Asian carp were seen there. It is quite possible that these carp could have arrived through a connection to Lake Michigan, its only connection to possibly carp infested waters.  
 

In the latter half of 2009, DNA testing was begun to determine where Asian carp had reached. Using eDNA (environmental DNA) it is possible to detect Asian carp where conventional methods are ineffective and at lower numbers. It is the best early warning detection method currently available. If carp are present it is possible to detect them by isolating DNA from “environmental” samples. Quickly we learned that Asian carp were in the vicinity of the electric barrier. Testing further upstream showed there were carp past the barrier. Finally in January 2010 it was determined that Asian carp were indeed in Lake Michigan. The environmental DNA tests could only determine that the carp are present, not how many carp, so we do not know if there are sufficient numbers for a spawning population in Lake Michigan. I have received anecdotal evidence that Asian carp have been in Lake Michigan since late 2007. I have recently received reports that Asian carp have been seen in Muskegon Harbor some 120 miles north of Chicago. These reports are unconfirmed by actual fish capture or positive eDNA test results. If the reports I have received are correct then the battle to save the Great Lakes from Asian carp is over. Even small numbers of Asian carp are not good. Biological pollution, which is what Asian carp are, requires only a small initial “contamination” to become a serious problem. Biological pollution is living organisms, which can reproduce; it may take years to get numbers high enough to do damage to the ecosystem but when they do it is way too late for countermeasures. A perfect example is what has happened in the Illinois River with Asian carp, or the Great Lakes with quagga mussels, or round gobies, or spiney water fleas, or the other 180 invasive species identified so far in our Great Lakes.  
 

The Army Corps of Engineers, EPA, Illinois DNR, US Fish and Wildlife and US Coast Guard are all in denial that their electric barrier has failed to keep the carp from Lake Michigan. While using eDNA testing to detect carp maybe a new use, it is not new in forensic science to detect DNA of victims, perpetrators of crimes and to be used to determine the fate of criminals in our courts. The DNA testing in the environment is essentially the same as the testing being conducted by forensic scientists for our court system. Therefore, to question the validity is pure nonsense and denial by the Army Corps of Engineers, EPA, US Fish and Wildlife and all the opponents to hydrological separation of the Mississippi and Great Lakes ecosystems. Despite the Army Corps, EPA, and US Fish and Wildlife’s public skepticism of eDNA test results; I know they have no doubts that it is valid, effective and can be trusted. The emergency response and use of rotenone below the electric barrier was because of the positive eDNA test results in the vicinity of and above the electric barrier. This action would have been extreme overkill if the Asian carp were below the Lockport Lock as these agencies had publicly indicated just a few months prior. 
 

I started by saying that the presence of Asian carp has changed entirely the dynamic for protecting the Great Lakes from this invasive species. The Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework presented by the Obama administration was obsolete the day it was printed. The Strategy has no sense of urgency; it sustains carrying on a failed plan to address the Asian carp invasion. It lacks action by restudying control measures that have already been studied to death. The most glaring problem with Administration’s Asian Carp Control Strategy Framework is that it denies that these carp are in Lake Michigan. If there is any hope for the Great Lakes it is if there is only a small number of carp in Lake Michigan. If this proves to be correct we may have a chance to remove them before they can reproduce. The time for studies of control measures is past; we already know what to do. More studies will only exasperate the situation and cause more delays and insure the Asian carp’s successful invasion of all our Great Lakes.

It is hard to outline a plan because as the countermeasures are listed it sets an imaginary sequence of priorities. In this “fight” there are no first priorities. Everything on the table and outlined has to occur now; this is the last chance; there will be no more opportunities. 2010 will be the year that we either stopped the Asian carp or the year the Asian carp officially invaded the Great Lakes. 
 

  The following is what should be included in any 2010 Asian Carp Control Strategy to protect the Great Lakes from this invasive species: 
 

• Eliminate all the Asian carp present in the southern reaches of Lake Michigan. Their range in Lake Michigan has to be determined exactly leaving no hidden populations to reproduce.
   
• All potential pathways for more Asian carp reaching Lake Michigan need to be cut off, even if this means closing and tightening locks, (the Chicago Lock, O’Brien Lock, and any storm overflows) it has to be done now. Close all culverts and sluices that Asian carp could use to reach Lake Michigan.
   
• Eradicate the Asian carp in the Chicago area waterways between Lake Michigan and the permanent electric barrier to re-establish the buffer zone between the leading edge of the Asian carp population and Lake Michigan.
   
• Use intensive eDNA testing to monitor for the presence of Asian Carp in the Chicago area waterways and Lake Michigan. Use emergency rapid responses to any positive tests in the buffer zone or in Lake Michigan. Emergency responses should utilize any and all effective control measures including rotenone, trap nets, gill nets, or trawl nets, and other methods.
   
• Build hydrological separation barriers in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC) and Cal-Sag Channel. Closing locks and sluices is not a permanent solution it interferes with commerce; it is only an emergency measure until hydrological separation can be built. The Hydrological barrier on the CSSC has to be built near the point of the natural ecosystem separation. This barrier should be in the vicinity of South Western Ave to South California Ave. This will eliminate the flooding issues in regards to the Des Plaines River and any berms that the Army Corps has suggested that were necessary. The hydrological separation on the Cal. Sag should be in the vicinity of South La Grange Road to the South Harlem Road or at least one-mile above the junction of the Cal-Sag and CSSC but below any of the tributary rivers to the Cal-Sag. All hydrological separations need to enable the continuation of barge and boat traffic. Lifting barges over these barriers is easy and one example is on the Trent- Severn Waterway at Lock 41. There are other methods as well that would be easy to build. Temporary hydrological barriers should be put in place until the permanent structures can be built.
   
• Immediately halt any ballast water discharges by Lake Freighters or other ships coming from Lake Michigan in any of the other Great Lakes and their tributaries. The potential for accelerating the spread of Asian carp through the transfer of eggs or young fry is a real danger. Dr. David Jude has said that the carp eggs are “bullet proof” and could survive the journey in ballast tanks.  

The plan I have outlined has to be initiated and carried out as soon as possible to be effective. I will repeat again that we have no time the Asian carp are in Lake Michigan; the mission to stop them from reaching the Great Lakes has failed. We are now in uncharted territory nothing has ever been attempted like this before to undo an invasion of an ecosystem. All efforts have to be carried out aggressively and with determination. I have focussed on the ecological disaster but if the Asian carp are not pushed back and stopped it will have severe economic impacts as well. The recreational boating and fishing industry is valued at over $7.1 billion a year in the Great Lakes. In a recent New York Times article it was stated that the invasion of Asian carp would spell disaster for tourism. It would cause the property values of vacation homes and tourism businesses to plummet. If Asian carp effect the economic base of communities around the Great Lakes their bond ratings would suffer. As described the Asian carp is not only an environmental problem it is economic which we can ill afford not to eradicate from Lake Michigan.   

In summary there is no room for delay in action. It is environmental and economic survival for the Great Lakes region that is at stake. The Asian carp are not pausing to second guess their migration to northern waters and beyond. We have a lot of resources at our disposal to carry out this plan. We need to react much like we have in the past for any natural disaster except this one is manmade. I believe 2010 will be a year etched in history, I hope our descendants will be able to praise us for our actions.