 The question now is whether or not the Asian carp could now find
another way into the Great Lakes besides Illinois and Chicago-area
locks.
The Indiana Department of Natural Resources has reported on an Asian
carp spawning bed in the Wabash River in central Indiana, near
Lafayette.
The Wabash River is not physically connected to the Great Lakes. But
Indiana's Department of Natural Resources and federal officials are
studying whether or not potential flooding from rainfall could
transfer Asian carp from tributaries connected to the Wabash River
into the Maumee River.
The Maumee River basin begins in Fort Wayne, Ind., and flows to the
northeast before emptying into Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio.
Indiana's report of a spawning bed comes just more than a week after
a 19-pound Asian carp was found in Chicago's Lake Calumet, which is
connected to Lake Michigan.
The bighead carp was the first physical specimen of Asian carp found
above the electric barrier near Romeoville that was installed by federal
officials to protect Chicago-area shipping locks and the Great
Lakes.
Until that point, only carp DNA had been discovered in Lake Michigan
and connected canals.
Joel Branmeier, president and CEO of the Alliance for the Great
Lakes, said the discovery of an actual carp reinforces the need for
action.
"It's not so much it changes the game as it makes it crystal clear
that we need to speed up efforts. I think there's no question that
carp are in the Great Lakes," he said. "The bigger question is,
can
we stop them before they establish themselves? And I think the
answer to that is yes."
The carp finding could place more pressure on state and federal
governments. In December, the state of Michigan and several other
states unsuccessfully tried to sue the state of Illinois in an
attempt to shut down the Chicago-area shipping locks and prevent the
spread of Asian carp.
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Earlier this week, Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Debbie Stabenow,
D-Mich., introduced legislation that would set an 18-month deadline
for the Army Corps of Engineers to determine whether or not the
Mississippi River basin could be separated from Lake Michigan.
"Last week's discovery of an Asian carp in Lake Calumet was a
wake-up call that we need to do more and we need to do it quickly,"
Durbin said in a statement. "We can't wait while the Army Corps of
Engineers and other agencies broadly examine methods of controlling
invasive species; we must act now."
The term Asian carp actually encompasses a number of different
species. The bighead carp and silver carp are the species associated
with the threat to the Great Lakes.
The Asian carp can grow up to 4 feet and 100 pounds and have no
known predators.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By KEVIN LEE]
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