Effective plan for Asian carp
Traverse City Record-Eagle
‘Effective plan’ for Asian carp
February 24, 2012
Feds want to spend $51.5M on 2012 Asian carp fight
By JOHN FLESHER
AP environmental writer
TRAVERSE CITY — The Obama administration will spend $51.5 million this year to shield the Great Lakes from greedy Asian carp, including first-time water sampling to determine whether the destructive fish have established a foothold in the lakes, officials said Thursday.
Officials released an updated strategy that also includes stepped-up trapping and netting in rivers that could provide access to the lakes, as well as initial field tests of scents that could lure carp to where they could be captured. An acoustic water gun that could scare carp from crucial locations will be tested near a Chicago shipping lock some want closed because it could serve as a doorway to Lake Michigan.
“This strategy builds on the unprecedented and effective plan we are implementing to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes while we determine the best long-term solution,” said John Goss, Asian carp program director for the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
With this year’s money, the federal government will have spent $156.5 million over three years in the fight against bighead and silver carp.
, imported from Asia decades ago. They have migrated up the Mississippi River and its tributaries including the Illinois River, where they’ve advanced to within 55 miles of Lake Michigan.
photo by:Â Associated Press file
