First, the bad news. For those worried about the Great Lakes fishing industry being destroyed by an invasion of giant Asian carp, Jan. 19 was a perfectly horrible day.
First of all, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to issue an injunction closing two navigation locks in Illinois that separate carp-infested waters of the Mississippi River basin from Lake Michigan.
Last month, when word came that carp DNA had been detected less than eight miles from the lakes, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox filed a lawsuit seeking to close the locks immediately.
The suit was swiftly joined by Ohio, Wisconsin, New York and Minnesota. But it was opposed by Illinois, which complained that closing the locks could cost Chicago and the barge industry millions. President Obama is from Illinois; his administration also opposed the closing, and they prevailed -- at least for now.
Then, within hours after the high court's decision, more bad news: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that some carp are apparently already in Lake Michigan. Asian carp DNA samples were found in water samples near the Chicago shoreline.
From almost every perspective, few things could be worse than a permanent infestation of giant Asian carp. "If they get in, the Asian carp could destroy the Great Lakes," Cox said.
The experts agree; the Army Corps of Engineers itself admits that Asian carp would be "an ecological and economic disaster." Once established, the voracious Asian carp tend to swiftly drive out other fish by consuming the entire food supply. One species, the Bighead carp, can easily get up to four feet long and 100 pounds. They consume a fifth of their weight in plankton every day.
In some carp-infested places on the Mississippi River, tests have found that as much as 97 percent of the total weight of the local fish population are the carp, which are also spectacularly ugly.
Were that to happen in the Great Lakes, it would play havoc or worse with the $7 billion commercial and sport fishing industry.
Additionally, a second species, the Silver carp, are known to jump at the slightest disturbance. They are smaller than the Bighead, and usually top out at about 40 pounds. But being hit in the face by a fast-moving fish that size is no joke. Boaters, swimmers and water-skiers have had faces lacerated and jaws broken.
Boats and motors have been damaged. If you are wondering how this plague started, go back to the 1970s, when Arkansas fish farmers imported the carp, evidently as a possible food fish. (They are edible, if not tasty.) But during a flood, some got into the Mississippi River.
They have been working their way north for years. The authorities knew this, but did little to stop it. An electric barrier was constructed near Chicago, but was never turned on at full strength. Now, there is evidence that at least some silver carp have been in Lake Michigan. Does that mean it is too late?
Fortunately, the answer may be no. Charlie Woodley, the deputy director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said it would take several hundred to reach a critical mass and form a stable breeding population. That may not have happened yet.
Indeed, on several occasions, individual Asian carp have been caught in Lake Erie, fish evidently released into the wild. But there is no evidence they have built up a breeding population.
Following the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm asked the Obama Administration to convene a White House summit on the carp crisis.
If there is any good news, it is that the president swiftly agreed. Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, sent letters to Granholm and other Great Lakes governors agreeing to meet with them in the first week of February to discuss what steps they could take to control the carp.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it planned to extensively use nets and electricity to try and kill carp in the area near Calumet Harbor where their DNA has been detected.
All may not be lost yet. Cameron Davis, a senior advisor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, told a multi-agency task force that "defeating Asian carp will require working together," and added that "Rapid response ... is what it will take now."
Officials also noted that ecologists and government officials have had considerable success in controlling the invasive sea lamprey. But all such efforts are doomed to failure unless there is concentrated, long-term political will to succeed.
Last week, Davis, the EPA adviser, was in Lansing meeting with state legislators. He told them that it had been clear for years that the carp were coming, but nobody was willing to do anything until the last minute. The next few weeks may determine whether this time, our tardy response turns out to have been too little, too late.
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