What's So Terrible About Asian Carp?
Photo credit: Kate Gardiner
In case you missed it, Michigan filed a lawsuit on Monday, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to force Illinois to close the locks of the Chicago River in order to keep invasive Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes. Of course, this isn't the first time a neighboring state has sued in an effort to compel Chicago to close the locks. In 1900, the city dug the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to divert waste water away from the shores of Lake Michigan.
According to the Trib, "Michigan is seeking to reopen a case dating back more than a century, when Missouri filed suit after Chicago reversed the flow of the Chicago River and began sending sewage-fouled Lake Michigan water south toward the Mississippi River."
It's pretty clear why Missouri residents were less than thrilled at the prospect of Chicagoans flushing our sewage downstream, but what's so terrible about Asian carp?
For starters, native species can't compete with them. Asian carp are known to grow to more than 100 pounds, according to Scientific American,
literally out-eating all of their competitors. In addition to their
massive appetites, Asian carp reproduce at higher rates than native
species.
The combination of these factors led Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox to refer to the fish as "nuclear bombs" at a recent press conference. As fishing guide Pat Chrysler puts it, "It's like introducing piranhas to the Great Lakes."
And
for an example of how thoroughly they can dominate native species,
Asian carp currently comprise
95 percent of the biomass of certain stretches
of the Illinois River,
according to a recent Reuters report. If they can do that to a river, just imagine what sort of havoc Asian Carp could wreak on the Great Lakes.
Worst of all? They aren't even very good to eat.
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