Asian carp in Lake Michigan!

Fox6 in Milwaukee just reported Asian Carp DNA has been identified in the southern end of the lake. Another invasive species….

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Fox6 in Milwaukee just reported Asian Carp DNA has been identified in the southern end of the lake. Another invasive species….

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They found just the DNA? In any event, that sux.

If an organism’s DNA is present, it is likely that the organism is there as well.

I read a few weeks ago somewhere that they were trying to close the locks/ports in Chicago to preven this from happening. At that time the current federal administration (I think we all know who we are talking about) ordered the locks/ports open again since there was no evidence of Asian Carp in Lake Michigan. So once again instead of preventing something from happening, now they will react I’m sure and try to save the day. I can’t wait till one of them tells us “this just proves how the system is working”.

Sorry, just had to rant a little. Have a good day!

Here’s today’s story from the Chicago Tribune:

Asian Carp in L. Michigan

As a whole, government officials should have given this inevitable scenario a lot more attention and directed more resources to solving the asian carp issue. This should have occurred several years ago already when we actually had a chance to stem the tide.
For once it would have been nice to get out ahead of a problem like this instead of reacting to an out of control problem after the fact.

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As a whole, government officials should have given this inevitable scenario a lot more attention and directed more resources to solving the asian carp issue. This should have occurred several years ago already when we actually had a chance to stem the tide.
For once it would have been nice to get out ahead of a problem like this instead of reacting to an out of control problem after the fact.

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Well said Joel!
It just eats away at me that my children will not get to experience so many of the things I have as a child. In my short 40+ years of life, I have already seen the dramatic changes in so many different eco systems. Most for the worse

Don’t tell Obama, the last I heard there was not enough evidence to do anything about this, I guess we need some Al Gore like data or something like that…

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If an organism’s DNA is present, it is likely that the organism is there as well.

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I got that part. This was what I was wondering aloud about.

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The question of how far the carp have gotten now turns on the reliability of the DNA samplings, which even Army Corps officials admit are not “foolproof.” The emerging technology, developed in partnership with the University of Notre Dame, detects fragments of carp tissue floating in the vast Chicago waterways.

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I thought maybe the DNA was from a crime scene where a trout was found dead, but there was signs of a struggle and the perpetrator left blood behind which they had tested.

OK, I actually was wondering if fish DNA some how floated freely in the water, which didn’t make sense. But after reading their explanation, I got it.

If i’m not mistaken, the power of the trace level DNA examination in this situation is that all waterways flow from Lake Michigan into the Infested waterways. Therefore, finding the DNA in Lake Michigan is a pretty convincing argument that there are asian carp in the big lake (how else would microscopic bits of tissue get in there? its upstream). Maybe we are talking just a couple fish, but maybe a couple thousand. I don’t know how sensitive the analysis is. Of coarse there is the possibility of a false positive as well. However, I would assume that considering how high profile this situation is, this data has been well reviewed b/f deciding to disseminate those findings.

Unfortunately, the time to act on this issue was years, or even decades ago. I’d hardly blame our current administration for this. Seems to me that this problem has been known for quite a while now.

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Unfortunately, the time to act on this issue was years, or even decades ago. I’d hardly blame our current administration for this. Seems to me that this problem has been known for quite a while now.

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This administration, the last administration….has either one done anything at all to address this issue?
For government officials, issues like the possibility of asian carp in Lake Michigan never seem to get much attention until it’s to late and has become a huge problem.

All those locks should have been closed before the electric weir was shut down and rotenone applied. It was at that time I understood that DNA was already found above the wiers, but not the lake at that time. And now less than three weeks later they find DNA in the lake!!! Those fish have been in Lake M. only God knows how long. Our government needs to get invasive species under control in the great lakes and I mean NOW!!! Those lakes states that are suing better file a stronger suit!!!

Mark

If they go after anyone it should be the catfish farmer who imported them or better yet, the USDA for allowing the importation of them. Closing the locks, stringing hot wire, and anything else humans come up with won’t stop this.
Take a wild guess at how many cormorants, pelicans, and herons will transport fish and or fertilized eggs from one body of water to another, via their legs and stomachs. How many people dump their minnows into a body of water at the end of the day that were taken/seined from someplace else? Flooding is another transporting method.
This invasion will not be stopped. Delayed perhaps, but not stopped.
The only thing you might hope for is that there is something in the greatlakes, be it predators, water temp, or something that will keep them in check so to speak. maybe we’ll be lucky enough that with the zebra mussels in the lake, that water is too filtered for the carp to feed.
Commercial fishing won’t even stop them.

I was under the impression that any enviromental issues in the Great Lakes was to be dealt with by some sort of joint cooperation between the U.S. and Canada and also involving the states and provinces. Or maybe this is some future deal.

I’m sure this is being addressed in the next stimulus bill. I heard of this coming down the pipeline 6yrs. ago. Now it’s going to be the , band- aid on the hemoroid senerio