Bighead and Silver carp (Photo: WIDNR)
In the the latest round in the fight to keep Asian Carp out of the Great Lakes, the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee – which includes the Departments of Natural Resources in Wisconsin and other Great Lakes states – has announced the strategy to keep the invasive fish at bay over the next two years.
The $60-million effort is aimed at preventing the carp from reaching the Great Lakes in numbers large enough to compete with native fish species – and damage the sport and commercial fishing industries. The strategy includes exploring the potential of a new lock-and-dam southwest of Chicago, at a junction between the watersheds of Lake Michigan and the carp-infested Mississippi River, as well as developing new technologies to find and control the carp.
The carp have been present in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal for the past several years. And earlier this month, they were detected in the St. Croix River on Wisconsin’s border with Minnesota.