Study raises concern about safeguarding Lake Erie

Wednesday, 18 January 2012 02:40

Study raises concern about safeguarding Lake Erie

Up to now, the waterway linking the Mississippi River with Lake Michigan via Chicago has been the focus of efforts to block Asian carp from making their way into the Great Lakes.

But a federal study released last week indicates a new point of concern in western Lake Erie. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey issued a paper saying that the Maumee River, which empties into Lake Erie at Toledo, Ohio, is particularly well suited for Asian carp to lay their eggs.

While traveling the Great Lakes from Chicago to Toledo may seem like quite a distance, there is a different point pathway when it comes to Asian carp. In 2010, Asian carp were found in the Wabash River in central Indiana, prompting officials to construct a 1,177-foot chain-link fence near Fort Wayne to stop the fish from traveling through a marshy area connected to the Maumee River.

USGS scientists found that the Maumee has the 70-degree summer water and miles of undammed water needed for fertilized Asian carp eggs to incubate. It is especially worrisome that the Maumee flows into Lake Erie, the warmest and shallowest of the Great lakes, which also makes it an ideal home for walleye, perch, smallmouth bass and other fish.

But if Asian carp are allowed to populate the Great Lakes, scientists fear the voracious species will starve out native plankton-eating fish, which provide food for larger fish such as whitefish and salmon, and threaten the region's $7 billion fishing industry. Thousands of jobs depend on Great Lakes fishing and tourism, both of which could be harmed by an Asian carp invasion.

It's been nearly three decades since Asian carp escaped from Southern fish farms and began making their way north. An electric barrier in the Chicago area has thus far kept them out of the Great Lakes.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers needs to complete as soon as possible its feasibility study on creating a permanent barrier between the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan.

As we have said before, Asian carp present an imminent threat to the ecological balance of the Great Lakes and a viable solution needs to be found to stop them. Last week's USGS report underlines the urgency of that task.