ll,<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/p>\n[Thomas Marks email]<\/p>\n
Maybe some of you know I have been battling on this issue for
\nyears… I can not describe how I feel… I am sick… disgusted…
\nmad as hell… and not surprised. This email will be too long but I
\nhope you will excuse me and read it through… there is much work to
\nbe done.<\/p>\n
From its inception I felt and stated emphatically that the electric
\nbarrier would not work\/or be effective at stopping Asian carp…
\nalso I said that the project would never be completed in time by the
\nArmy Corps of Engineers… an electric barrier was used to stop the
\nspread of gobies into the Mississippi River and failed because the
\nCorps completed, what became known as the temporary electric
\nbarrier, too late. Even now as we are witnesses to this failure the
\npermanent barrier has not yet been completed (fall 2010 is the
\nlatest target), and it has cost millions more than what was
\ninitially planned. When this project was initiated to prevent the
\nAsian carp from reaching the Great Lakes I asked why would we expect
\ndifferent results… the Corps had already proved they do not
\noperate at the level of intensity or urgency necessary to protect an
\necosystem. For this government project there has been no
\naccountability, no time table for completion, no pressure to be
\nproductive… if the project engineers in Chicago were working in
\nprivate industry they would have been out of a job long ago. … but
\nwe would have a completed electric barrier.<\/p>\n
I asked most of the researchers and consultants that were planning
\nand advising for this project about electric barriers and the
\nconcept for using one to protect the Great Lakes… the plan for the
\nbarrier was meant only to slow the advance of the Asian carp to Lake
\nMichigan… the plan was never for the electric barrier to stop the
\ncarp! I tried to tell everyone this but few listened. The Barrier
\nPanel Committee, Army Corps, Coast Guard, and the project supporters
\nlet the public and the press believe the electric barrier would stop
\nthe Asian carp from reaching Lake Michigan… despite knowing that
\nthis was false. I can not count all the times I have read quotes
\nfrom “Panel” members or the Army Corps project engineers suggesting
\nthe electric barrier would stop the Asian carp. So, this is why we
\nare at this point today … to be witnesses to the demise of the
\nonce Great Lakes.<\/p>\n
Last year (Nov. 2008) asian carp were found in a small lake in a
\nChicago Park which is connected to Lake Michigan; there were only
\ntwo ways that the carp could have gotten there; either they came in
\nfrom Lake Michigan or if someone “planted” them. The lake was “rotenoned”
\nto kill the carp because no matter how they got there they could
\npotentially swim out into Lake Michigan. This was reported by the
\nChicago press and confirmed by Illinois Wildlife officials. At the
\ntime I feared that carp had already breached the barrier because I
\nfelt these carp had come from Lake Michigan. I had been receiving
\nreports for over a year prior that Asian carp had been seen in the
\nharbor area. Let me explain, studies by scientists advising the
\nBarrier Panel Committee stated that the electric barrier at best
\nwould be 99% effective… sounds good but it isn’t (most likely it
\nis even less effective). There are tens of thousands of carp
\nswimming the canal and who knows how many will try to pass the
\nbarrier (and the electric field’s effectiveness is dependent upon
\nthe surface area of the fish… big fish effective; small fish not
\nso effective) for every hundred carp trying the barrier one would
\nget through. When it comes to those small young of the year the
\nelectric field will be less effective and more will pass. I could go
\non however, trust me there are lots of holes in the electric barrier
\nplan. There is not even consensus among members on the barrier panel
\nas too how serious the threat asian carp pose to the Great Lakes. It
\nseems just when we think we understand the asian carp we find we do
\nnot fully understand this creature. I do not trust the experts
\nanymore. I know the asian carp does not belong in the Great Lakes
\nand I will do whatever it takes to keep them from getting there.<\/p>\n
There could be a possibility the method used to detect Asian carp
\nhas given us a false positive, perhaps we just got a bad scare. In
\nthat case we need to work with more intensity, at a level necessary
\nto protect the Great Lakes; we can not be satisfied with the pace
\nthat the Army Corps of Engineers has worked at to this point. Time
\nhas never been on our side. The Corps engineers have to be made
\naccountable for the work they do. We can not accept excuses or
\ndelays. We can not accept barriers less effective than the electric
\nbarrier…. which is meant only to slow the Asian carp invasion. We
\nneed to have in place, (quickly), an ecological barrier as was in
\nthe original plan to protect the Great Lakes. I have suggested that
\nall the power plants located on the Sanitary and Ship Canal and the
\nCal-Sag Channel be allowed to discharge hot water to create a zone
\ninhospitable to fish. WE ARE TRYING TO PROTECT AN ECOSYSTEM…
\nDRASTIC MEASURES MAY BE NEEDED ASAP! The Sanitary and Ship Canal was
\ndesigned to be an open sewer not a fish habitat. If the Great Lakes
\nare important, then we must do whatever it takes…. with the
\nintensity and urgency to necessary protect them.<\/p>\n
Let me just briefly describe the “Barrier” Project so you are clear
\non what was originally planned. It has three phases, first was to
\nbuild the electric barrier, phase one. The second phase is to build
\nan ecological barrier. We are very late in the planning stage for
\nthis phase of the project, we should be implementing it now, not
\nstill planning it. The first phase of the project was supposed to be
\ncompleted years ago so it is far behind schedule. The final phase is
\nsupposed to be hydrological separation of the Mississippi Basin from
\nthe Great Lakes (as it was before the canals). The Sanitary and Ship
\nCanal was built to be an open sewer to carry sewage away from
\nChicago’s drinking water source, Lake Michigan. We do not need the
\nopen sewer anymore. We can close the canal because Chicago’s treated
\nsewage water is clean enough to discharge into Lake Michigan rather
\nthan to divert billions of gallons of water a day out of the Great
\nLakes towards New Orleans.<\/p>\n
I ask all the recipients of this email to make calls to their
\nCongressman and Senators (in NY Schumer and Gillibrand)… we need
\nquick action… we all need to work at the intensity level that is
\nnecessary to protect an ecosystem, we have only one chance! I hope
\nwe have not lost it. <\/b><\/p>\n
1. Call your member of Congress and Senate and urge them to: <\/b><\/p>\n
– Tell the Corps to immediately close all controlling locks in
\nChicago waterways that lead to Lake Michigan.
\n– Tell the Corps to take any and all monitoring and control efforts
\nto keep the Asian carp at bay and the Great Lakes safe.
\n– The risk is too great to delay taking action, we must act today to
\nsave the Great Lakes from this devastating invasive species.<\/p>\n
2. AND call the Army Corps of Engineers Project Manager, Chuck
\nShea<\/b>, and urge him to act quickly! It his responsibility for the
\nsituation we are currently in.
\n-Tell Chuck Shea to act responsibly and to close all controlling
\nlocks in Chicago waterways that lead to Lake Michigan.
\n-Tell Chuck Shea to adopt a sense of urgency and to work at a level
\nof intensity necessary to protect an ecosystem.
\n-Tell Chuck Shea if it is not already too late; we have only one
\nopportunity for success and not to squander it.<\/p>\n
3. AND call Dr. Phil Moy<\/b>
\n-Tell him as Chair of the Barrier Advisory Panel he needs be a
\nleader, to take responsibility for the project’s success or failure,
\nto keep the Corps on plan and schedule.
\n-Tell him that the “Panel” bears responsibility for the success or
\nfailure of this project.
\n-Tell him to get phase two of the project implemented and push
\nharder for hydrological separation.<\/p>\n
To reach your member of Congress, you may call the Capitol
\nSwitchboard at: 202-224-3121
\nTo reach Chuck Shea you may call the Chicago District of the Army
\nCorps of Engineers at: 312-846-5568
\nTo Reach Dr. Phil Moy you may call him at: 920-683-4697<\/p>\n
Thomas Marks
\nNY Director
\nGreat Lakes Sport Fishing Council
\nWaring Circle
\nDerby, NY 14047<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n\n\nBIO FOR THOMAS MARKS:
\nClick the Pic<\/i><\/b><\/span>
\n![](\"\/10856_small.JPG\") <\/a>
\nLicensed Coast Guard Master Class Captain
\nN.Y. Director for the Great Lakes Sport Fishing Council
\nChairman for the Town of Evans Conservation Advisory Commission
\nMember of the Erie County Conservation Management Commission
\nPresident for the Lake Erie Chapter Federation of Fly Fishers
\nSales Representative for Cygnus Media Group, “Explore Wild NY” TV show<\/span><\/p>\nPro Staff for Bikini Lures, and “Explore Wild NY”
\nTournament angler on the BFL, Stren, and various other tournament
\ntrails.
\nAward winning outdoor photographer and writer.
\nPublic speaker on environmental issues and fishing seminars.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n \n \n\n\n\n\n \n ODN NOTE: This article was found
\nvery interesting and worthy of posting here for everyone’s
\nreview. This Carp situation is NO JOKE!<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\nFeds pass on surest solution to
\nAsian carp advance<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\nBy JOHN
\nFLESHER, AP Environmental Writer
\nJohn Flesher, Ap Environmental Writer<\/span> <\/span>
\n\u00a0Associated Press story on
\nFebruary 12 2010<\/span><\/cite><\/div>\nTRAVERSE CITY, Mich<\/b>. \u2013 The
\nsurest way to keep rampaging
\nAsian carp<\/span>
\nfrom gaining a foothold in the
\nGreat Lakes<\/span>
\nis to sever the link between
\nLake Michigan<\/span>
\nand the
\nMississippi River basin<\/span>, created by engineers in
\nChicago<\/span>
\nmore than a century ago.<\/span><\/p>\nThat would thrill environmentalists
\nand those who make their living in the $7 billion Great
\nLakes fishing industry, which could be devastated by a carp
\ninvasion. Not so the barge operators who move millions of
\ntons of commodities on the Chicago-area waterways each year.<\/span><\/p>\nAnd so, pulled in different
\ndirections by both, as well as politicians in the
\nGreat Lakes
\nstates<\/span>, the Obama administration this week proposed a
\n$78.5 million plan that appears to make no one happy.<\/span><\/p>\n“It appears to be politically
\nnegotiated rather than scientifically based … sort of like
\ntrying to cut the baby in half,” said Thom Cmar, an attorney
\nwith the Natural Resources Defense Council. “It offers a lot
\nof middle-ground alternatives with no discussion of why any
\nof them would actually work.”<\/span><\/p>\nShippers worry about a promised
\nstudy that would examine closing more often a pair of
\nnavigational locks at Chicago, and the prospect that a
\nlong-term study could recommend severing the connection
\nbetween the river and the lakes for good.<\/span><\/p>\nEnvironmentalists, meanwhile, fear
\nthe plan’s reliance on strengthening an electric barrier
\ndesigned to block the carp’s advance \u2014 and other measures,
\nsuch as stepping up efforts to find and kill fish that may
\nhave slipped through \u2014 is an expensive gamble that might not
\nbe enough to ward off an infestation.<\/span><\/p>\n“We’re spending close to $80
\nmillion just for a short-term deterrent,” said Joel
\nBrammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, an
\nenvironmental group. “We need to stop pushing money toward
\ntemporary solutions and get everyone on track toward
\ninvesting in one that works for good \u2014 and that means
\nabsolute physical separation.”<\/span><\/p>\n
\nBighead<\/span>
\nand silver carp \u2014 both native to Asia \u2014 have been migrating
\ntoward the lakes since escaping from Deep South
\nfish ponds<\/span>
\nand sewage treatment plants in the 1970s. The biggest can
\nreach 100 pounds and 4 feet long, consuming up to 40 percent
\nof their body weight daily in plankton, the base of the
\naquatic food chain. Once established in the lakes, the carp
\ncould starve out the prey fish on which popular species such
\nas salmon and whitefish depend.<\/span><\/p>\nThe carp have already infested
\nparts of the
\nMississippi<\/span> and
\nIllinois
\nrivers<\/span>, driving away many native fish.
\nSilver carp<\/span>
\nare known to hurtle from the water at the sound of passing
\nmotors and slam into boaters with bone-breaking force.<\/span><\/p>\nWhile scientists differ on whether
\nthe carp would thrive in the Great Lakes, which are colder,
\ndeeper and ecologically different than rivers, many say the
\nrisk is too great to take any chances.<\/span><\/p>\n“None of us know for certain what
\ntheir impact would be,” University of Notre Dame biologist
\nDavid Lodge told a House subcommittee this week. “There’s
\nonly one way to find out, and I don’t think any of us want
\nthat.”<\/span><\/p>\nTo be fair, the solution
\nenvironmentalists prefer \u2014 cutting ties between the lakes
\nand the Mississippi \u2014 would mean reconfiguring some 70 miles
\nof canals and rivers. That’s a massive undertaking that
\ncould not happen quickly. “We cannot fight biology with
\nengineering alone,” Cameron Davis, the
\nEnvironmental
\nProtection Agency<\/span>‘s spokesman on the issue, told the
\ncongressional panel.<\/span><\/p>\nYet the federal plan is heavy on
\ntechnological innovations. Among them: barriers using sound,
\nstrobe lights and bubble curtains to repel carp and
\nbiological controls to prevent them from reproducing.
\nThey’re promising measures, but still on the drawing board.<\/span><\/p>\nEnvironmentalists and
\nGreat Lakes
\ngovernors<\/span> outside of
\nIllinois<\/span>
\nwho want to close the
\nChicago locks<\/span>
\nclaim it’s the best short-term option. But it isn’t a
\nfoolproof solution, as young carp might still be able to
\nslip through the leaky structures. The Chicago waterways
\nalso have other access points to
\nLake Michigan<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nArmy Corps of
\nEngineers<\/span> officials are putting their faith in the
\ntwo-tiered electric barrier in the
\nChicago
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