Posted on 07/04/2010 4:19:19 PM PDT by Willie Green
The fish that could eat the Great Lakes is only 6 miles away from Lake Michigan now — maybe.
The big, ugly and unbelievably hungry Asian carp has been making its way up the Mississippi for two decades and now appears to be closer than ever to migrating en masse to the world's largest body of fresh water.
If it starts reproducing there, scientists say, it's likely to eventually consume much of the plankton that forms the basis of the food chain that supports what's estimated to be a $7 billion sports fishery.
"These fish are extraordinarily prolific, and if they establish themselves in the Great Lakes, the Great Lakes are done," said Joel Brammeier, president of the Alliance for the Great Lakes.
To stop the carp, some environmentalists say we should consider spending an untold sum to redo the engineering feat that reversed the flow of the Chicago River and linked the Mississippi basin with the Great Lakes a century ago. That would stop the invading fish — maybe.
Such are the uncertainties confronting federal officials as they consider how to cope with the greatest threat to face the Great Lakes fishery in modern times.
The trouble is, the defining words in the Asian carp story seem to be: maybe and if.
The lakes already may be in big trouble — if the lone blackhead carp that was found last month in Lake Calumet, six miles from Lake Michigan, was one of many.
And radical changes in the Chicago waterways may be able to save the lakes from the invaders from afar — if they can be done on time, and if the monster fish doesn't find some other way into the lakes, which is something that may already be happening.
(Excerpt) Read more at buffalonews ...
Place a bounty on the carp. That would stimulate the economy and put tens of thousands of fishermen to work.
“You’d better watch out for the eggplant that ate Chicago.
If he’s still hungry, the whole country’s doomed.”
Norman Greenbaum - Dr. West’s Medicine Show & Junk Band
I think it is a great idea too :)
Will it eat the mollusks that have infected the lakes?
Remember, that was supposed to kill the lakes, too.
NATURE ADJUSTS.
Lake pike will likely find the carp quite tasty.
Hey, I bet you could turn around and sell the carp to trendy uptown sushi bars and actually make a profit on the deal.
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If this carp can destroy the great lakes don’t tell obummer.
Environmentalists are always carping.
I thought we were supposed to embrace diversity.
Nobody wants to eat carp or that same industry would have sprung up all up and down the mississippi. People come here to fish for game fish, not carp.
We once had the worlds largest freshwater commercial fishing industry but the sea lamprey eliminated that with the help of various greentards and assorted leftist nutjobs.
No they taste pretty bad. You could either use them for Cat and Dog food or grind them up and use them for fertilizer. Makes an excellent fertilizer.
But does it TASTE good???
By my reading of the map, they're still thousands of miles from Lake Baikal.
Heck, Lake Michigan ain't even the biggest of the Great Lakes.
Only if you rely of the commercial viability to support fishing for the carp. They have little commercial value that is the purpose of the bounty. Take some "stimulus" dollars (over 40% still hasn't been spent) and place a bounty of say $1 a pound on the carp. Fishermen could then take the carp to centers where they would be paid hundreds of dollars for their catch. We get rid of the carp and the fishermen get a job.
Don’t even have to yell “Pull”.
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