Healing Our Waters Coalition » Aquatic Invasive Species

Lamprey barrier will help protect Lake Michigan fishery

Jeff Alexander — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:49:39 +0000

The government has upped its game in the eternal effort to reduce the number of sea lamprey in the Great Lakes.

State and federal agencies recently completed construction of a $1.6 million sea lamprey barrier in Trail Creek, a Lake Michigan tributary in northern Indiana. The barrier will prevent sea lamprey from spawning in the creek, which will reduce the number of these monstrous, blood-sucking invaders in Lake Michigan.

The barrier and other efforts to control sea lamprey are paramount to efforts to maintain a healthy Great Lakes fishery. Each sea lamprey can consume up to 40 pounds of fish during its time in the lakes.

Sea lamprey are the biggest threat to the Great Lakes Fishery. (Great Lakes Fishery Commission photo)

Sea lamprey nearly eliminated the lake trout and whitefish fisheries in all the Great Lakes in the first half of the 20th century. The formation of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in 1954 launched a full-scale war on sea lamprey.

That effort has reduced the sea lamprey population by 90 percent in most ares of the lakes. But because there is no way yet to eliminate sea lamprey from the Great Lakes, efforts to keep their numbers in check will continue for the foreseeable future.

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission spends about $20 million annually to control sea lamprey populations. That’s a small price to pay when you consider that the sea lamprey, if left unchecked, could wipe out a Great Lakes fishery valued at $7 billion.

Go here to read more about the sea lamprey barrier in Trail Creek.

$50 million pollution cleanup aims to make Indiana’s Grand Calumet River grand again

Jeff Alexander — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:36:16 +0000

A few miles southeast of Chicago, in the shadow of an elevated toll road that links the Windy City to Indiana, crews are transforming one of America’s most polluted rivers into an oasis for wildlife.

The Grand Calumet River was abused for more than a century by cities and industries that used it as a sewer. Decades of toxic discharges blanketed the river bottom with a thick layer of poisonous mud that fouled the water, drove away every species of fish except carp and goldfish, and coated birds in oil.

A $50 million cleanup of the Grand Calumet’s west branch project aims to reverse the damage and restore life to a river and associated wetlands that once attracted scores of migratory birds.

“We’re returning this to a real river,” said Scott Ireland, a scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “We’re already seeing some bird species returning.”

Before the cleanup, the Roxana Marsh was choked with cattails and Phragmites. (EPA photo)

Daniel Sparks, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who has worked on the Grand Calumet River project since 1989, said aquatic life could return to the river’s west branch soon after the cleanup is finished.

“We’re making real progress; I’m excited,” Sparks said. “Fish could spawn again in this river someday.”

River is one of many Great Lakes toxic hotspots
The Grand Calumet River is one of 42 Great Lakes Areas of Concern. The river flows 13 miles through the heavily industrialized cities of Gary, East Chicago and Hammond, Ind., before flowing into Lake Michigan via the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal.

Roxana Marsh after contaminated sediments and invasive plants were removed. (EPA photo)

The river and harbor — which drain an area that is home to 57 severe pollution sites and wastewater treatment plants that still discharge untreated sewage into the river — contain between 5 million and 10 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment. About 150,000 cubic yards of that polluted sediment washes out of the river and into Lake Michigan annually, according to government studies.

The river’s toxic underbelly was fouled by a witch’s brew of toxic wastes, including oil and grease, heavy metals, PCBs, according to government records.

Cleaning up all of the Grand Calumet River and the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal will cost more than $100 million, according to federal officials.

Since last year, crews working for the U.S. EPA and Indiana’s Department of Environmental Management and Department of Natural Resources have dredged 232,000 cubic yards of toxic sediment from the west branch of the Grand Calumet and one of its largest wetlands, the 19-acre Roxana Marsh. Workers also removed several acres of invasive Phragmites and, in February, will begin depositing a layer of clean sand, clay and rugged fabric on the river bottom that will serve as a cap atop 345,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediments that will be left behind.

Ireland said the sand and clay cap would isolate the remaining pollutants from the river and allow the waterway to heal. He said there wasn’t enough money to remove all of the toxic mud.

“In some areas toxins are found 15 feet below the bottom of the river,” Ireland said.

Federal program is cleansing the lakes
Funding for the cleanup came from the EPA’s Great Lakes Legacy Act program and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. State and federal agencies collected $72 million from companies that polluted the river, Ireland said.

The Great Lakes Legacy Act, which is now implemented through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, has proven to be one of the region’s most effective cleanup programs since it was established in 2002. Money from the program has cleaned up 1.5 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment at sites in Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Wisconsin. Go here to learn more about the program.

This map shows the location of all 42 Great Lakes Areas of Concern.

U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, a Democrat who represents northern Indiana, championed the Great Lakes Legacy Act in Congress and helped secure funding to clean up the Grand Calumet River.

Visclosky in 2008 told the Post Tribune of Gary, Ind., that the benefits of cleaning up the Grand Calumet extend far beyond the boundaries of the river’s basin.

“It will help improve water quality in all areas downstream, including the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal and Lake Michigan,” Visclosky said. “It is one in a series of historic efforts to clean up over a century of contamination in those waters and return them to their natural purity.”

Ireland, who has worked on the Grand Calumet project for 20 years, said he wasn’t sure the cleanup would ever get off the ground.

“If you had asked me 15 years ago if I thought this river would ever be cleaned up, I would have been hard pressed to say yes,” Ireland said recently. “People thought this river would be polluted forever.”

Cornell Davidson, a lifelong resident of East Chicago, Ind., called the Grand Calumet River cleanup “a very good thing.”

“I’m hoping they can get rid of all of the pollution,” Davidson said. “Maybe it will improve our quality of life and we can live longer.”

Newspapers calling for faster action on Asian carp

Jeff Alexander — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:31:23 +0000

The rally cry for faster action on Asian carp continues to grow, with more newspapers calling on federal officials to speed up efforts to keep the menacing fish from invading the Great Lakes.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich, has introduced a federal budget amendment that would force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete, within 18 months, a study of how best to halt the movement of Asian carp and other invasive species between the Mississippi River and Great Lakes basins.

The problem is that Congress can’t agree on a 2012 federal budget. As a result, the fate of Sen. Stabenow’s Stop Asian Carp Amendment is uncertain.

An employee with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service holds a bighead carp. (USFWS photo)

Sen. Stabenow’s amendment warrants immediate approval. It’s the only way the Army Corps will speed up its Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS), which is currently slated for completion in mid-2015.

The Great Lakes can’t wait four years for the Army Corps to figure out how to solve the Asian carp crisis. The ravenous fish are on the verge of invading Lake Michigan.

Newspapers around the region have been publishing editorials recently calling on Congress to take the Asian carp threat seriously and act accordingly.

The Buffalo News said the Stabenow amendment “could go a long way toward protecting the lakes from this destructive fish … the Asian carp isn’t waiting for the corps to act, as it chews its way closer to the Great Lakes and an ecosystem supporting an annual $7 billion sport fishing industry. Read the complete editorial here.

The Battle Creek Enquirer said Congress should take up the Stabenow amendment, regardless of whether it’s part of the federal budget debate. “We agree with the amendment’s 18-month deadline, and hope that all senators in the Great Lakes region, regardless of party, will help put pressure on the Army Corps to press ahead with efforts to protect this valuable water system as quickly as possible,” the newspaper said in an editorial. Read the rest of the editorial here.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer said the Stabenow amendment would put the Army Corps of Engineers “on notice that carp take precedence over complacency. Her proposed Stop Asian Carp amendment to the omnibus spending bill would deliver the boot to that indolent bureaucracy.” Read the complete editorial here.

Army Corps officials have repeatedly said that they take their marching orders from Congress. It’s time for Congress to tell the Army Corps to march in double time to complete the Asian carp study.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow Offering Asian Carp Amendment in 2012 Budget

Jeff Alexander — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:45:55 +0000

Asian carp will be part of the U.S. Senate’s 2012 budget discussions, thanks to Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

Sen. Stabenow is introducing a budget amendment that, if approved, would direct the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to complete its study of how best to separate the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River basin within 18 months.

U.S. Senators from the Great Lakes states need to support Sen. Stabenow’s Asian carp amendment. They are:
In Michigan: Sen. Carl Levin;
In Wisconsin: Sens. Ron Johnson and Herb Kohl;
In Minnesota: Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken;
In Illinois: Sens. Richard Durbin and Mark Kirk;
In Indiana: Sens. Dan Coats and Richard Lugar;
In Ohio: Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman;
In New York: Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer; and,
In Pennsylvania: Sens. Robert P. Casey Jr. and Patrick J. Toomey.

As it stands now, the Army Corps won’t complete its Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study (GLMRIS) until 2015. That’s far too long — Asian carp are on the verge of invading Lake Michigan.

Sen. Stabenow’s Stop Asian carp amendment would expedite the study and direct the Army Corps to make it a top priority until the project is complete.

The three electric fences that are currently being used to repel the Asian carp from swimming towards Lake Michigan through the Chicago Waterway System took more than 15 years to study, develop and build. And those fences do not repel all sizes of Asian carp, according to the Army Corps’ own studies.

The Stabenow amendment provides the appropriate pressure and oversight to ensure that agencies charged with protecting the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basins have the information needed to re-imagine the Chicago Waterway System to protect U.S. waters that provide drinking water, jobs and recreational opportunities to millions of Americans.

Please take a moment today to call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202)224-3121 and ask for your senator’s office. You can also e-mail your U.S. senators and urge them to vote for the Stop Asian Carp amendment. It is our best hope of keeping these menacing fish from taking over the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem.

Coalition to Congress: Ballast Provision Undermines Restoration, Economy, Battle against Invasive Species

Jordan Lubetkin — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 14:54:05 +0000

As reported earlier on this site, the U.S. House Interior and EPA spending bill contains an egregious provision that undermines Great Lakes restoration, hurts state economies and sets back the national effort to stop the influx of harmful invasive species into the Lake and other U.S. waters.

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition sent a letter signed by 81 member groups opposing the provision, which would strip states like New York of all EPA funding for enacting laws that are more protective than ineffective national standards. For states like Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, that amounts to losing tens of millions of dollars annually—not to mention losing ground in the effort to protect clean drinking water, prevent sewage contamination and clean up toxic pollution.

The letter states:

“State leadership has been, and will continue to be, a critical driver advancing the development of stronger standards and timelines, culminating in federal ballast water regulations that are both protective of state waters and unified across the nation. States are creating an urgency in which cutting-edge technologies are developed, verified and implemented for use. Today, we are at a crossroads in efforts to prevent aquatic invasive species introductions to our nation’s waters. As aquatic invasive species are very rarely eradicated, and extremely difficult to control, the cost incurred by more invasive species to taxpayers will be a growing burden the nation will carry forever.”

The Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition is working to oppose the anti-Great Lakes provision—and the House Interior and EPA spending bill as a whole. The nation’s public officials can do better—and need to do better to protect the Great Lakes, one of the wonders of the world that more than 30 million people depend on for drinking water.

Asian Carp Placed on Eco-Terrorist List

tpache — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 16:23:20 +0000

Yesterday, President Obama signed into law the Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act that lists the hideous fresh-water beasts under the Lacey Act as injurious species. The law prohibits the intentional introduction of the species and prohibits interstate transportation or importation without a proper permit.

This is a big victory and was pushed by Great Lakes heroes Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) – the U.S. Senate approved the bill last month.

“This law is an important step in the effort to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes,” Levin said. “These fish pose a real, clear and growing threat to the Great Lakes and I will continue working to ensure tools like the Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act and others will be available as we counter this threat. The devastating effects Asian carp could have on the Great Lakes are not fully known, and I want to make sure they are never realized.”

Congress Sends Asian Carp Bill to the White House

tpache — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:44:16 +0000

The US House of Representatives approved the Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act yesterday. Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and George Voinovich (R-OH) introduced the bill that will help stem the spread of Asian carp in the United States in the summer of 2009. The Senate passed the bill last November and it will now head to the White House for President Obama’s signature.

“The U.S. Congress took an important step today in the effort to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes,” Levin said. “These fish pose a real, clear and growing threat to the Great Lakes and I will continue working with my colleagues to ensure tools like the Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act and others will be available as we counter this threat. The devastating effects Asian carp could have on the Great Lakes are not fully known, and I want to make sure they are never realized.”

By listing bighead carp as injurious wildlife under the Lacey Act the Congress is preventing the intentional introduction of the species and prohibiting interstate transport or import of living Asian carp without a proper permit. States can still issue permits for the transportation or purchase of live Asian carp for scientific, medical or educational purposes. While more needs to be done to keep the Asian carp out of the Great Lakes ecosystem, this is a step in the right direction

Asian Carp Fears Prompt Some to Cancel Halloween

tpache — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:08:51 +0000

Great Lakes Region –Residents from towns around Lake Michigan and Western Lake Erie are on guard this Halloween as they fear a replay of last year’s Land Carp attacks in Des Plaines, Ind. where several residents were brutally chomped upon by a land roving Asian carp masquerading as a cat fish. A few towns have gone so far as to cancel trick-or-treating as a safety measure.

“It really is too bad that a year has passed and no one has stopped the carp,” lamented Erie Township Mayor Dan Brown. “At the last minute, the City Council decided it was safer to just cancel Halloween all together.” After the press conference where the canceled children’s holiday was announced, Marion Ruddemeir told the Associated Press, “There was just no way I would let my children out there, not with those huge teethy fish around.”

No one has actually seen a Land Carp since last year’s attacks, but the leg wielding evolutionary gem of a carp, has left e-DNA samples beyond the electronic barrier and very near the Great Lakes. Experts speculate that the hefty fish has its sights on Canada as they seem to admire royalty and like hockey (at least the fights – Asian Carp are known for sending fishermen to the hospital with broken jaws).

“Our forensic team analyzed the eDNA and found the fish has a predilection for the Queen and the Maple Leafs, which must be why we have found traces of the beasts from the Mississippi River all the way to the Lake Michigan,” said Richard Dorph, a biologist at the University of Michigan, when explaining an eDNA forensic analysis.

In late June, a commercial fisherman patrolling Lake Calumet found a large carp beyond the O’Brien barrier with nothing between the fish and Lake Michigan. The species had sprouted two inch legs but was not yet able to hold its bodyweight. Experts believe that the legs of roving land carp have to reach several feet before the carp can leave the water.

After last year’s sightings, some members of the US Congress proposed urgent legislation that would halt the advance of the fish, but the bill sputtered, and then stalled. The Canadian Embassy has been forthright in its demands that the US do something.

The fish, being of Southern descent, has taken its time marching North– at least 17 years, and as the Canadian’s point out – the US knew the fish was advancing and did very little to try and stop it. Since then, the fish has sprouted legs and overcome not just the soothing low-voltage electronic barriers, but has been able to transverse land. Last year, the fish – elevated to ground level via flooding in the Des Plaines River – used the guise of Halloween to hide their migration. Most were ordinary, decent Asian carp, but at least one cheeky dissenter wandered into nearby neighborhoods and terrorized residents.

“This was so tragically predictable,” said US Rep. Candy Mills, (D-Mich.), who is among the writers of the Carp Act, the bill that would try and stop the fish first by closing the shipping locks and then by other means. “For years, myself and so many others have raised concerns over this issue and were criticized for it or told we were overreacting. Today, our worst fears have been confirmed.”

But Illinois refuses to close the locks and is hesitant about long term, more permanent solutions because they fear any move will terminate the regional shipping industry and harm the local economy.

“Don’t they get that the fish themselves will eventually destroy the shipping industry and completely eradicate recreational boating?” asked Sarah Goode, a resident of Michigan who has organized the Mothers Against Land Area Roving Carp Initiative (MALARCI). “I mean, where is Rahm Emanuel? Can’t he talk some sense into these folks?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Emanuel was the Land Carp. I bet he dressed up just to scare people into voting for him for mayor of Chicago,” interjected Matt White, a bargeman and protester outside the MALARCI rally.

Still, after the fisherman’s discovery in Lake Calumet, the US Army Corps promised to continue to operate the locks as they always do. “At this time we see no reason…to take any step toward lock closure,” Lance Davis, a spokesman for the Corps said. He added that the Corps is considering building a bridge for the leggy carps to help get them get out of the country quicker. “There are funds in the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative meant for invasive species, we could use those dollars to build the bridge,” Davis added.

Despite eyewitness accounts and vivid evidence, including some very bloody wounds, some in the government and the Chicago area doubt the existence of the fantastical beasts. The original urgency felt last year to deal with the invasion has been significantly muted. Meanwhile, residents feel the need to cancel Halloween and the Canadians, well; they are left quaking in anticipation of a near-future assault.

Rahm Emanuel Heads to Chicago with Asian Carp

tpache — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 16:11:30 +0000

The worst kept secret in the nation was confirmed today when the president announced that Rahm Emanuel would be leaving the White House to run for the coveted office of mayor of Chicago. As a parting gift, the staff gave him a dead Asian carp which is so hilarious it should bring Great Lakes lovers to tears (of sadness).

Black humor aside, if Emanuel succeeds in his bid for mayor it can be expected that he will be an advocate in the battle against the carp. Emanuel was said to be obsessed after the fish appeared just miles from Lake Michigan. We can only hope he will make the carp a priority if he wins the race.

As we have stated before, the best solution is a long term one that involves separating the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basins. The Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Cities Initiative are progressing on a study of the best way to do this so that our economy and ecology are enhanced at the same time that we stop the fish from overrunning the lakes.

U.S. Senate Uses Appropriations Bill to Fight Advance of Asian Carp

tpache — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:44:57 +0000

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development is beefing up funds for the electronic fence in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal while giving the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers leeway to take emergency steps to stop the Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes from any of the connections or tributaries between the Mississippi and Great Lakes basins.

Senators Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and George Voinovich (R-Ohio) are praising the action of the committee.

“The appropriators clearly understand the urgent threat of Asian carp, and I am grateful to them for heeding our calls to include these key measures to help stop them from entering the Great Lakes,” Sen. Levin said, adding: “These two critical measures will be significant tools in the fight against Asian carp.”

The subcommittee added $5.9 million to the President Obama’s request for the electronic fence, bringing funding up to $18.5 million. The subcommittee also expanded the Corps authority from just the Chicago waterway system to cover the tributaries, connections and the flood zone between the Wabash River and the Maumee River in Indiana – both have become critical in the fight to keep the carp out of Lake Erie where they are expected to thrive in the warm, shallow waters.

Levin and Voinovich, co-chairs of the Senate Great Lakes Task Force, along with six other senators called for the expanded authority last week, following revelations of the threat of Asian carp entering the Great Lakes Basin via the Wabash River in Indiana.

“If these aquatic menaces get into the Lakes, they will destroy a $7 billion fishery and harm the Great Lakes ecosystem. My colleagues understand how hard I have worked on this issue, and I appreciate their support when it comes to protecting the Great Lakes, a national treasure,” said Sen. Voinovich.

We are grateful that in these tough times the Senate has seen the import of protecting the Great Lakes, especially because a colony of Asian carp in our Great Lakes would devastate the region’s economy. Now, the bill will go to the Senate Appropriations Committee for a vote.