The White House announced yesterday Governors Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Pat Quinn of Illinois will meet in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 8 to address the threat Asian carp pose to the Great Lakes.
Also attending the summit will be attorney generals from Midwest states and other officials from various departments, including the Environmental Protection Agency, according to a press release from the Obama administration.
“What we really hope to come out of this summit between the Great Lakes states is a shared sense of initiative and a common plan for how to deal with this problem,” Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Cynthia Hirsch said.
Asian carp are an invasive, non-indigenous species to the Great Lakes that, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, can measure over four feet long, weigh up to 100 pounds and live for more than 20 years. The fish also eat about 40 percent of their body weight per day in snails, mussels and various fish.
Asian carp have presented a potential threat to the Great Lakes for decades, according to Hirsch. An electric barrier was put up to combat the problem and prevent the fish from passing from the Mississippi River to the Great Lakes.
However, concerns regarding the species were reignited this fall when it was announced 32 DNA samples of Asian carp had been found mere miles from gates to Lake Michigan, which form a virtual revolving door for trade and commercial crafts.
Wednesday, congressmen from the Great Lakes states agreed to ask for $20 million to search for solutions to the problem. According to Mike Staggs, director of the Wisconsin DNR Bureau of Fisheries Management, while no official course of action has been decided on as of yet, much research has gone into the area.
Lawmakers have had trouble agreeing on how to address the issue.
A number of Great Lakes states petitioned the federal government to lock the gates between the Great Lakes and Chicago waterways; however, the proposal was ultimately rejected because of the negative effect on trade such a closure could have.
Many are calling for a rapid response to what they see as a serious danger.
“We need to address this problem quickly, otherwise the ecosystem of a valuable national resource could be ruined forever,” Hirsch said
According to Staggs, the invasion of the fish could threaten more than just the Great Lakes’ ecosystems.
“If we don’t solve this problem, these fish could have a serious impact on not only the environment, but the economy within the Great Lakes region,” Staggs said. “The fishing industry makes over $7 billion a year and that’s money we can’t afford to give up.”
While there are many possible solutions to the problem, Staggs suggests the threat of Asian carp to the Great Lakes’ ecosystems will never be fully eliminated until the gateway between the lakes and the Mississippi River is closed.
“We need to make it so that there is no way for the carp to get access to the Lakes,” Staggs said. “The Great Lakes are definitely worth protecting, and if we don’t act fast, Wisconsin will have a lot to lose.”
