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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAsian Carp Breed In Great Lakes, Threaten Fishing
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) Scientists said Monday they have for the first time documented that an Asian carp species has successfully reproduced within the Great Lakes watershed, an ominous development in the struggle to slam the door on the hungry invaders that could threaten native fish.
An analysis of four grass carp captured last year in Ohio's Sandusky River, a tributary of Lake Erie, found they had spent their entire lives there and were not introduced through means such as stocking, according to researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey and Bowling Green State University.
Grass carp are among four species imported from Asia decades ago to control algae and unwanted plants in controlled settings such as sewage treatment lagoons. They escaped into the wild and have spread into the Mississippi and other rivers and lakes across the nation's heartland.
Of greatest concern in the Great Lakes region are bighead and silver carp, prolific breeders that gobble huge amounts of plankton tiny plants and animals that are vital to aquatic food chains. Scientists say if they gain a foothold in the lakes, they could spread widely and destabilize a fishing industry valued at $7 billion.
Grass carp are less worrisome because they eat larger plants instead of plankton and don't compete with native species, although they could harm valuable wetland vegetation where some fish spawn.
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/28/asian-carp-great-lakes/3289387/
postulater
(5,075 posts)I hope this spurs some action. To do nothing would be a disaster for all the lakes.
There is so little that is not trashed already. This invasion would destroy the remainder.
panader0
(25,816 posts)but could be a good source of food and nutrition.
Purveyor
(29,876 posts)fish.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)hootinholler
(26,449 posts)Link Speed
(650 posts)Hey, Dude, from those of us in Wine Country.
I was banging on a guitar and thinking about you, just last night.
panader0
(25,816 posts)Stuart G
(38,439 posts)HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)badtoworse
(5,957 posts)HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)although supposedly not yet in Lake Michigan.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)I was a copy editor for outdoors magazine all over the U.S. And there were a few articles in the Michigan edition about 3 or 4 years ago about the Asian carp being an invasive species that put native species in danger of extinction.
xfundy
(5,105 posts):sarc:
Link Speed
(650 posts)We think they came in a tank of Florida Bass fingerlings. Even though we sorted the whole lot, a few must have gotten past us.
They wiped out the vegetation of a 20-foot-deep, 370-acre tank within three years. Caused us all kinds of problems.