Posted on 06/24/2017 3:10:09 PM PDT by mdittmar
CHICAGO – U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement after the discovery of an adult Silver Carp near the T.J. O’Brien Lock and Dam in the Calumet River:
“I’m deeply concerned by today’s announcement that an adult Silver Carp was discovered a mere nine miles from Lake Michigan. If this invasive species reaches the Great Lakes, it could cause significant economic losses and irreversible damage to the ecosystem, and threaten the drinking water of 30 million Americans. Now more than ever, we must redouble our efforts to prevent their spread by ensuring strong federal funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative – which President Trump’s budget eliminates – and by pushing for the completion and release of the Brandon Road Study.”
(Excerpt) Read more at durbin.senate.gov ...
Ignorant bottom ferreting slimes, or democrat senators? I rather prefer the fish frankly.
Roaches with gills is a good description.
Eat all the good game fish and turn your lakes and streams into slime by eating the vegetation.
Can’t they just put up a physical barrier. Like a net. Where are these critters?
Grew up on Lake Michigan. Get there in the morning in the 60’s and the beach was covered with dead fish. Whipping your siblings with dead fish was a source on entertainment. And a source of anger for my mom.
We survived.
When I was a kid and we used to fish for mullet and sucker in the Tittabawassee River, any carp we caught were buried in our garden, usually at the base of the raspberry bushes. Great fertilizer ...
I don’t know how much more of this carp I can take.
Exactly. Rahm showed his azz in his hubris, thinking Hillary would win. Chaicago is one of quite a few violent cities which have been left off a list for federal funds to try different programs to reduce criminal violence. Chicago-Illinois-are in deep financial sh*t, and were counting on the federal teat. They’re getting a big zero instead. So now they’re grasping at every straw they can, to get some money.
Can’t they just put up a physical barrier. Like a net. Where are these critters?
Grew up on Lake Michigan. Get there in the morning in the 60’s and the beach was covered with dead fish. Whipping your siblings with dead fish was a source on entertainment. And a source of anger for my mom.
We survived.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLmJjRqXDCo
My spouse had one smack in shoulder—it hurt as the carp can get quite large.
They really are a menace and a regional group effort needs to be coordinated to eradicate them before they decimate the fishing and tourist industries of all The Great Lakes.
How’s he know they’re Asian?
I didn’t even think it through that far, just that its their usual response. But you’re right. They were expecting a big bailout. Good luck with that, losers.
The fish heard Chicago was a sanctuary city.
All Dems do is carp.
I am so glad you asked. I haven’t found one article that explains the danger to drinking water but I found an article that has a solution.
here goes:
ASIAN CARP IN ILLINOIS
A century ago the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was hailed as an engineering masterpiece. Built to carry sewage and ships, the canal created an artificial connection between the Great Lakes basin to the Mississippi River Valley – two ecosystems that evolved separately for millennia. Today the canal has become a superhighway that allows plants and animals from one ecosystem to invade the other. Zebra mussels from Lake Michigan have spread through the Mississippi River and its tributaries, clogging water pipes and causing millions of dollars worth of damage to industrial facilities. Now two species of Asian carp threaten to devastate the Great Lakes and inflict irreversible damage on sport fisheries, wildlife, regional economies and the people that rely on them.
THE PROBLEM: INVASIVE SPECIES
Asian carp are voracious plankton feeders that can quickly dominate aquatic ecosystems by gobbling up the same food that sustains native fish populations. They have already overtaken the Illinois River, where they grow so large they have no natural predators. They are rapidly approaching the Great Lakes, which have already been weakened by other invasive species. The threat is serious: plankton is the foundation of the Great Lakes food web.
Bighead carp grow to more than 4 feet long and weigh up to 100 pounds. Silver carp leap when disturbed and injure river users. Cuts, bruises, and broken bones have been reported from silver carp collisions along the Illinois River.
If Asian carp invade the Great Lakes, they could also devastate the region’s $7 billion fishing industry and permanently alter how recreational boaters, anglers, and tourists use and enjoy the lakes and their many tributaries. They are already overtaking and out-competing native fish in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. Many US and Canadian rivers feeding the Great Lakes could also be at risk, as shown on the map for a few adjacent states.
THE SOLUTION: RE-VISIONING THE CHICAGO WATERWAYS
Click on image for source. [at article]
Connecting the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River system seemed like a good idea at the time. By the 1890’s Chicago’s sewage, dumping into the Chicago River and draining naturally into Lake Michigan, was beginning to pollute its drinking water supply. By digging the canal, the State of Illinois caused the Chicago River to reverse direction, allowing Lake Michigan to serve as a giant toilet tank flushing sewage into the Illinois River and on to the Mississippi River.
Today, of course, we have options available to us that weren’t available a hundred years ago. Most other cities around Great Lakes employ modern sewage treatment technologies that allow them to dump treated sewage into the Great Lakes without poisoning their drinking water. And our extensive networks of railroads and highways provide viable alternatives to waterborne commerce within the Chicago metropolitan area.
The obvious long term solution is to permanently close the connection between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basin to prevent invasions in either direction via the canals. Four possible locations for such a barrier have already been identified (see Alliance for the Great Lakes report here). Unfortunately, state and federal agencies have spent most of their time and effort on stopgap measures that have failed to stop the steady movement of Asian carp.
https://prairierivers.org/priorities/asian-carp-invasive-species/
The flow of water is NOT important.
The flow of Fed money to cronies of Turban Durban IS important.
Turban Durbin bears a striking resemblance to the Asian Carp.
“Koi are from Asia, and they are among the most beautiful and amazing fish in the world. “
Toyota Supras are Asian too, and they are one of the coolest cars ever made.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Asia still exports junk both natural and man-made.
And release Koi into alien waters and watch it collapse the ecosystem too.
Ask Dick what Federal Department can be eliminated so we can pay for a Program to eliminate the Asian Carp once and for all.
Name just ONE Dick.
You know what W. C. Fields said about water and why he wouldn’t drink it. ;-)
you are so correct... this is a no bull$hit situation... these things eat everything... they can destroy an entire ecosystem... why not put the college kids and professors to work on this problem instead of looting and rioting?
You must not be familiar with koi prices. We don’t pay through the nose just to release koi into the wild. They’re for koi and garden ponds.
But if koi push your buttons, here’s another Asian fish: bettas/Siamese Fighting Fish. They are non-invasive. Their favorite food is mosquito larvae. And they are BEAUTIFUL.
https://www.shutterstock.com/search/beautiful+betta?search_source=base_keyword
Maybe bettas are considered invasive. I read an article that said they are endangered. However, a different article claims they can be invasive. Frankly that’s not my metric. Both they and koi are among the most beautiful fish on earth. I’m very glad for Asia, as we’d have neither breed without it.
Here’s some non-invasive koi art. It looks good on the walls.
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