No easy or cheap answers to Asian carp threat
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Building permanent barriers in Chicago's canals and waterways
could block the voracious Asian carp from invading Lake Erie,
according to a report released yesterday, but they would take years
to put up and cost taxpayers more than $3 billion.
The Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence
Cities Initiative wrote the report and said the barriers could be
built in time to stop the fish from reaching any of the lakes.
Ohio officials have long considered the Asian carp a dire threat
to Lake Erie's $10 b illion-a-year tourism and fishing industries.
Concerns have grown since 2009, when DNA tests indicated the fish
had slipped past a Chicago-area electric barrier meant to keep them
out of Lake Michigan.
The carp eat most of the food that native fish rely on. Some
specimens can weigh as much as 50 pounds.
"The key is to stop them before they get in, and that's why
these physical barriers are so important," said David Ullrich, the
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative director. "We need a
higher degree of certainty."
Although Ullrich and Great Lakes Commission Director Tim Eder
said their report shows that Chicago's waterways could be blocked
without disrupting shipping or flood control, they acknowledged
that finding the money would be a challenge.
The proposal would need congressional support as well as backing
from Illinois' governor, Chicago's mayor and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers.
Gary O'Keefe, an Army Corps program manager, said physical
barriers are one of about 90 options the government is considering,
including poisons and sound waves.
He said the agency is working on its own analysis, due in
2015.
Floods along the Mississippi River in 1993 helped Asian carp
escape fish farms. Now, the fish is nearly the only species
researchers can find in many sections of the Mississippi and
Illinois rivers.
Researchers fear the fish would spread quickly through the Great
Lakes and particularly in the shallow western basin of Lake Erie,
crowding out popular sport fish.
Yesterday's report presents three options that would use as many
as five physical barriers to separate Chicago canals and waterways
from Lake Michigan. The report said the most-likely option - four
barriers at a cost of $3.26 billion to $4.27 billion - could be
completed by 2029. The project would include flood-control work and
the installation of cranes to lift cargo over barriers to waiting
ships.
Ohio government leaders, including Gov. John Kasich, express
support for the barriers but are concerned about funding the
project.
Kristy Meyer, clean-water director for the Ohio Environmental
Council, said the risk justifies the expense.
"One out of every 10 jobs on the lake is supported by tourism,"
Meyer said. "That's all at risk."