Fly-fishing for steelhead and brown trout in the Great Lakes and their tributaries may soon be a thing of the past. So, possibly, could fishing for chinook salmon in the lakes' open waters, trolling for walleye pike, and baitcasting for lunker smallmouth in the fabled Lake Erie fishery. In other words, if you've been dreaming about taking a trophy sportfishing trip to one of the five Great Lakes — Michigan, Superior, Erie, Huron or Ontario — now is the time to do so.
Why? Well, it seems that a lone bighead Asian carp has been discovered inhabiting Lake Calumet along the Chicago Area Waterway System (CAWS), a canal that was built over a century ago to link the Mississippi River with the Great Lakes, and that has sent chills down the spines of anyone who is concerned with Great Lakes fishing. The canal was originally designed to carry sewage from Chicago downstream and into the Mississippi River, a function it still performs, but has also served as a shipping channel. The fish was found by a commercial fisherman who was sampling for Asian carp in Lake Calumet, located approximately six miles downstream of Lake Michigan. The fish had somehow made it past the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's state-of-the-art electric barrier system, which was designed and constructed at a cost of tens of millions of dollars in an attempt to prevent the passage of unwanted invasive fish species from the Mississippi River basin and into the Great Lakes. Little wonder why sports fishermen, owners and employees of commercial fishing concerns and tribal fishermen in the Great Lakes region are feeling a heightened sense of anxiety these days.
"There are no other physical barriers before these monsters reach Lake Michigan," said Andy Buchsbaum, director of the Great Lakes Office of the National Wildlife Federation.
At stake is the integrity of the $7 billion per year Great Lakes fishing industry, as well as hundreds of years of tradition. And in the case of tribal fishermen, thousands of years of tradition.
The two species of Asian carp most responsible for putting Great Lakes anglers, state lawmakers, biologists, officials with state and federal natural resource agencies, environmentalists and even the U.S. Senate into a state of near panic are the silver carp and the bighead carp. The silver carp — the so-called flying fish — got its nickname because of its rather skittish nature that causes it to leap into the air when startled by nearby sounds, such as those made by motors. Both species grow to an extremely large size, have voracious appetites and reproduce rapidly. The fish gorge on plankton, which, as fishermen are well aware, form the initial link of an intricate food chain upon which every other aquatic species depends.
Silver and bighead carp were imported during the 1970s by Arkansas catfish farmers who had hopes of using the fish to help keep aquaculture facilities clean of algae. Although it is common to blame the fish farmers for the Asian carps' inevitable escape, which occurred during floods in the 1990s, agencies of the U.S. government must shoulder some of the blame. Although the paper trail is sparse, Nicholas Schroek of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center dug deep and discovered several Asian carp studies that had been funded during the 1960s and 1970s by the EPA and U.S. Fish and Wildlife.
"These agencies didn't just recommend the use of carp, they provided funding for grants and projects studying the efficacy of using the fish to clean municipal water treatment lagoons of human effluent," he said. "(The agencies) even helped with importation (of the Asian carp). The intentions were good — to use 'natural' rather than chemical means to clean lagoons. The biologists involved even made comments about how much the carp ate and how readily and prolifically they spawned. I guess they never even considered what would happen if the (fish) got loose."
Once the fish escaped, they found conditions to their liking. They quickly made their way upstream to overwhelm the Mississippi and Illinois river systems. In some stretches of the Illinois river today, Asian carp comprise 95 percent of the biomass. If biomass is defined as the total mass of living matter within a given unit of environmental area, then consider how radically native fish, mollusks, crustaceans and other aquatic creatures have been affected by the Asian invasion.
Asian carp are being caught in huge numbers — commercial fishermen in the Illinois river regulary catch 25,000 pounds of the fish each day — but their commercial value is low, especially when compared with the native fish they have replaced. Many commercial fishing operations have simply ceased to operate since they have been unable to make a living by catching and selling Asian carp.
"We're working with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in Illinois to help commercial fish processors, as well as commercial fishermen, increase their capacity so that we can hopefully meet the demand (for Asian carp products) we are trying to promote domestically and overseas," said John Rogner, assistant director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
Whether or not such a market exists or ever will exist on a large scale is of little interest to those seeking to preserve the Great Lakes as they are today, zebra mussels, brown gobies and all. A few people, including several biologists, dispute claims that Asian carp would thrive in the Great Lakes, given the presence of cold water and zebra mussels, another species that is already well established and would compete with the carp for plankton. (Lake Erie, because of its shallower depth and warmer temperatures, would appear to be in the most danger, according to experts.) Others want to do whatever it takes to prevent the fish from reaching the lakes, while still others argue it's simply a matter of time until the carp arrive.
"The carp are already in the DesPlaines River," said Nick Schroek. "There's a lot of flooding there." Which means yet another route along which the fish might find a way into Lake Michigan.
Asian carp have been found in the Wabash River in Indiana, which shares a flood plain with the Maumee River, a tributary of Lake Erie. Should the Wabash overflow its banks, which seems likely, Asian carp will be able to enter Lake Erie from the Maumee.
In response to the discovery of the carp in the CAWS, officials are increasing biological controls, including poisoning and netting.
Many environmentalists and even Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., have been clamoring for the closure of the locks in the CAWS, a move that would undo the century-old project and isolate the lakes from the Mississippi River basin. "(Closing the locks) would be fast and immediately effective, Gillibrand said.
Michigan sued Illinois in an attempt to do just that, but the U.S. Supreme Court denied the motion. Michigan's attorney general is now considering other options, perhaps in federal court, and Schroek believes other states may also be considering legal action. Environmental groups could also sue, according to Schroek, perhaps by using provisions of the Illinois Endangered Species Act.
Members of Congress, including Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., have introduced legislation to have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fast-track a study on the best ways to separate the Mississippi River Basin from the Great Lakes. Government agencies move slowly, however, even when prodded, and the carp already are too close for comfort.
At this point all Schroek is really hoping for, he said, "is that this Asian carp crisis will lead eventually to national standards for dealing with invasive aquatic species." Which is something that should have been done long ago.
