Meeting yields renewed optimism that prevention project will proceed
MICHIGAN—Members of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC), including a local representative, is lauding a US Oval Office discussion with US President Donald Trump, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall about the need to prevent the migration of Asian carp into the Great Lakes. The Commission has been part of a determined, bi-partisan effort to keep the harmful, invasive species out of the Great Lakes, and the meeting held on Wednesday, April 9 with the US president gives renewed hope that key projects, like the (barrier control measure) underway at the Brandon Road Lock and Dam, will be completed as planned.
“This is good news,” said George Purvis, a member of the GLFC and a Manitoulin commercial fish operator. “There is supposed to be a lot of work carried out to keep the carp out of the Great Lakes,” he said noting that Asian carp, “would definitely have a huge effect on the fishery.”
“Asian carp would devastate the Great Lakes fishery if they were allowed to enter the system,” said GLFC Chairman Ethan Baker, who is also the Mayor of Troy, Michigan. “We must do everything we can to keep them out (of the Great Lakes). The multi-billion-dollar fishery is at stake.”
“Asian carp collectively refers to three species of fish-bighead, silver, and black carp-that are native to Asia and escaped accidentally into public waterways in the southern US decades ago; they have been making their way towards the Great Lakes ever since, with a manmade canal system near the Chicago, Illinois area being the riskiest pathway. The carp were originally raised for food and as a natural way to keep bodies of water free of algae and other aquatic vegetation. An electrical barrier exists near Romeoville, Illinois to impede the movement, and a major project, the retrofitting of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam in Joliet, Illinois is designed to be an innovative, impenetrable layer of defence.
“We have every reason to be deeply worried about Asian carp,” Mr. Baker continued. “The carp have decimated the fisheries in every waterway they have invaded already, primarily the Mississippi, Illinois and Ohio Rivers. They eat massive quantities of food, and they reproduce prolifically. Bi-national, peer-reviewed risk assessments conducted by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) have demonstrated conclusively that no Great Lake would be spared and that it only takes a few males and few females for a population to be established. We do not want the Great Lakes turned into carp ponds.”
“The Brandon Road project, led by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), represents the best in design and innovation, which is why the project has received broad, bipartisan support,” said Mr. Baker. “Michigan and Illinois, together, have provided more than one hundred million dollars in non-federal, matching funds for this project, for which the entire basin is grateful. I thank Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Speaker Matt Hall, along with Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, for raising this issue at the highest level. Additionally, I applaud Congress for appropriating funds, and President Trump for confirming his and the federal government’s commitment to the project. The Great Lakes are the lifeblood of the project, and the Commission is very encouraged by the president’s promise to act.”
