[Hamilton Reef]

Note: This abhorred action was done to provide more money for the corps' work in Iraq and Afghanistan. When the Asian carps reach the Great Lakes we will placed the destruction of the Great Lake basin fishery squarely on GW Bush's shoulders! All of Bush's Halliburton money will never be able repair the damage, nor does Bush even care.

U.S. officials yank fish barrier funding
$4.4 million was promised for fence

Federal officials have cut funding for a new electric fence to block voracious Asian carp from invading Lake Michigan, where biologists fear the prolific fish could rapidly spread and devastate all of the Great Lakes.
Officials fear the three Asian carp species--bighead carp, black carp and silver carp--could end up causing more ecological and economic damage than other invasive species that already have wreaked havoc in the lakes, such as the sea lamprey and the zebra mussel.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...1,4626529.story?coll=chi-newslocalchicago-hed

 

[ESOX]

What a crock. Nice protection of our resourses.

 

[Buddy Lee]

When those carp overtake the walleye I like to catch, I'm going to take one carp for each politician in Lansing and Washington and personally deliver it to their office and throw it on their desk.

 

[solasylum]

This makes absolutely no sense!! Why would they allow something like this to occur? I never had and never will comprehend how politics can get in the way of making rational decisions. Seems like a no brainer to me.

What affect will this have on the charter industry, tourist industry, and everything else that thrives on the viability of fishing and enjoying the great lakes.

These fish also have a tendency to jump around noise. How long before somone is seriously injured or worse yet killed on a personal watercraft?

Man..I just don't get it!! When will we learn??

Scott

 

[Chris_Davis]

Crosspost from Southwest Michigan Rivers and Streams:

I haven't been able to read this article, but it's the only place that I find anything about a $4.4 million electic fence. The highest I've ever seen the price tag for the fence was $2.2 million but that wasn't a hard and fast number. I know that the Army Corp of Engineers has at least a half a million in their budget for the fence this year. Does anyone have a different link that has the price of this fence?

 

[scottyhoover]

Why couldn't each great lake state (and CA, but yeah right) donate a 1/2 mill each and we'd nearly have 4 million right there?

 

[victor mi pro bowhunter]

they dont sound like they are very good eating bighead carp black carp silver carp bush is going to lose votes on this

 

[Hamilton Reef]

On Saturday afternoon I was listening to 780AM Chicago radio. There was an announcement that the USACE stated, "We will find the money somewhere to replace the $4.4M." The radio commentary stated that there was a huge public outrage upon hearing of the earlier funding cut. The USACE was flooded with letters, phone calls, emails, and every local politician on their case. We'll see if this shows up in the news soon.

 

[SALMONATOR]

Does anyone have a different link that has the price of this fence?

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=62043

Al

 

[Hamilton Reef]

Sites of interest:

Army Corps pressured to create fish barrier
Action comes as fears of Asian carp intensify
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/mar04/212576.asp

Original fish barrier
Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Aquatic Nuisance Species Barrier Project
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/outreach/nis/Barrier/Barrier.html
and
http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/outreach/nis/Barrier/Barrier.asp

A good Sea Grant powerpoint presentation:
http://www.aquatic-invasive-species-conference.org/powerpoint_pdf/Session B/Wednesday/phil_moy.pdf

 

[Hamilton Reef]

ASIAN CARP BARRIER ESCAPES BUDGET CUTS

The war against terrorism nearly led to a biological invasion of the Great Lakes. The Army Corps of Engineers was struggling to find money for a barrier to stop Asian carp from getting into the Great Lakes. It wasn't until a strong letter from 24 members of Congress was sent to the Corps that the money was found. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium's Lester Graham reports:

http://glrc.org/transcript.php3?story_id=2214

 

[Hamilton Reef]

Law no barrier to invasive bighead carp

When the Army Corps of Engineers announced earlier this year that it couldn't find enough money to complete a $6 million carp-zapping barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Great Lakes politicians pounced.

At a congressional hearing in February, Michigan congressman Vernon J. Ehlers told John Paul Woodley Jr., assistant secretary of the U.S. Army for civil works, that his "head would be on a platter" if the food chain-destroying bighead carp make their way up the canal and into the Great Lakes.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/may04/226545.asp

 

[Hamilton Reef]

Asian-carp barrier cost grows by $1.8 million

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1085571135110871.xml

Wednesday, May 26, 2004
The federal government needs $1.8 million more to build an electrified barrier across the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Illinois to stop Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.

The Army Corps of Engineers learned this month that the $6.7 million project needs more money if it is to be built as designed, said Charles Shea, the project manager.

The International Joint Commission, an independent Canadian and U.S.-government agency that oversees water resources shared by the two nations, wrote a letter to Ohio Gov. Bob Taft last Friday urging the governors and Canadian ministers of the Great Lakes states and provinces to share the $1.8 million shortfall. Taft is the head of the Council of Great Lakes Governors.

Shea said the Corps contributed $5 million toward the project, which is the maximum allowed.

Congress would have to authorize more money. Illinois contributed $1.7 million.

The Corps will start the project next month and build one of the two electrical arrays, Shea said.

The other array could be built after money is secured.

Asian carp pose a major threat to the Great Lakes sport fishing industry and the lakes because they eat up to 40 percent of their body weight daily. They are now in the Mississippi River.

 

[Hamilton Reef]

IJC ASKS STATES FOR ASIAN CARP BARRIER MONEY

Bill Cohen, May 31, 2004
http://www.glrc.org/transcript.php3?story_id=2296

Barrier design
http://www.glrc.org/story_images/big_barrierdesign.gif

Officials from a joint U.S./Canada Commission that monitors the health of the Great Lakes is asking states and provinces in the region for help. The International Joint Commission wants the governments to chip in money to make sure that Asian carp don't invade the Great Lakes and decimate the fishing industry. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium's Bill Cohen reports:

A temporary experimental electronic barrier in the Chicago Ship and Sanitary Canal is the only thing keeping Asian Carp from swimming into Lake Michigan. That's why the federal government and Illinois have allocated 6.7 million dollars to build a new permanent fence.

But now, the builders say they need an extra 1.8 million dollars to complete the work. That's why the International Joint Commission is asking all the states and provinces that have a stake in the dilemma to come up with that cash. John Nevin is a policy advisor for the IJC. He says if the older barrier fails or the new one doesn't work right, the carp will wreak havoc with the Great Lakes:

"What they do is they swim along with mouths wide open and they filter feed. They eat all the plankton and all the little stuff that little fish eat, so they would potentially rob all the other fish in the lake of their food."

Ohio's Governor Bob Taft heads the Council of Great Lakes Governors. He's seeking input from other governors so he can issue a response soon to the plea for money.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I'm Bill Cohen in Columbus.

 

[Hamilton Reef]

Huge Asian carp threaten Lake Michigan (captimes.com)
Great Lakes govs urged to fund another barrier

The co-chairman of a U.S.-Canadian International Joint Commission wants Great Lakes governors to help fund a second electric barrier to keep huge and voracious Asian carp out of Lake Michigan.
But Gov. Jim Doyle, incoming chairman of the Great Lakes Council of Governors, says the funding is clearly a federal responsibility.

http://www.madison.c

 

[Hamilton Reef]

Asian carp is not a Wisconsin problem? That shows what an A-hole Gov. Jim Doyle is.

JS Online: Doyle rejects funding plea for Asian carp barrier

The prospect of an Asian carp invasion is a huge problem for the Great Lakes, but it isn't Wisconsin's problem. Not according to Gov. Jim Doyle.

Last month, the Council of Great Lakes Governors was asked to raise another $1.8 million to complete a carp-zapping electric barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, about 25 miles downstream from Chicago's Lake Michigan shoreline.

Doyle's response to the plea from the International Joint Commission to the eight Great Lakes governors: Look somewhere else.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/jun04/236920.asp

 

[Linda G.]

I am not defending the government for cutting the budget on this, just wondering if it might be good money after bad, and not really worth the effort anyway...maybe they should be looking at something else that will stop these invaders?

We have one of those very expensive electric fish barriers here on the Jordan, probably funded from the same source...and I'm told it's pretty worthless, even when they have it on...

And there are other sources of government funding...I know of $158,000 of federal funding that is going to a very small northern Michigan airport that has very little traffic at all, for a supposedly deer-proof 10 ft. fence, when every person I have talked to tells me that a 10 ft. fence isn't deer-proof at all...

Let's hope, if they find the funding, that these fences work...

 

[Hamilton Reef]

Shocking truth: Electric barrier not enough to halt carp invasion

It smells like a boondoggle to me. Sometime this month, suited city, state and federal officials will have a photo op to kick off the permanent electrical fish barrier on the Sanitary and Ship Canal near Romeoville.

The reason I am so pessimistic about the barrier came on June 24. Brian Adame caught the second bighead carp within a year from the McKinley Park lagoon, some 30 miles from the barrier.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/outdoors/cst-spt-bowman04.html

 

[Randy Kidd]

Too Late!!! seems they have been in the great lakes since 2001

http://www.uoguelph.ca/zoology/rush/zoo402www/Fall2000/ichthynews.html