Invasive Species: Asian Carp

Recent studies by Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, only ten females (and the minimum required males) are needed to establish an Asian Carp population in the Great Lakes. This report also discredits those who claim the fish can't survive in the Great lakes. So far, carp eDNA has been found way past the electric barrier in channels that connect to Lake Michigan. This report has renewed debate over the Great Lakes Commission's study that recommends separating the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River Basin. Those who rely on water transportation to move goods are against the plan, while those for the plan claim that GLC's plan would renovate the shipping infrastructure to a point that Chicago and the Great Lakes could compete for increased shipping traffic heading through the newly expanded Panama Canal, which opens in 2014. It's an unprecedented plan and worth a closer look.