Feds to step up hunt for Asian carp near Chicago

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ASIAN_CARP_GREAT_LAKES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-29-17-05-29

CHICAGO (AP) -- Federal officials announced Friday that they will begin intensive monitoring of waterways near Lake Michigan next week after genetic material from the invasive Asian carp showed up in a third consecutive round of testing.

Crews will use electric jolts to stun fish, sweep the waterway with half-mile-long nets and conduct additional sampling in Lake Calumet and the Calumet River near Chicago during a four-day period beginning Monday, the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Council announced Friday.

DNA from silver carp, one of two Asian species threatening to enter the Great Lakes after migrating northward from the South for decades, was found in 11 samples in the lake and the river during testing in July. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced on July 22 that it had found two additional samples containing DNA from silver carp and would increase its response if DNA was found in a third sample.

Some scientists say if the large, voracious carp establish a foothold in the Great Lakes, they could unravel the food web by gobbling plankton needed by smaller fish that feed prized sport varieties such as walleye and trout. Environmentalists and officials from several states are calling on the corps to immediately close shipping locks that separate the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds to stop the carp.

[pscot]

1. I hope they have better luck

than they're having with the banksters. :rofl: