Great Lakes environmentalists are on high alert ever since an Asian carp was found less than 10 miles from Lake Michigan earlier this month. The fish was found beyond an electrified barrier designed to prevent Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes and its diverse ecosystem.
Asian carp were first introduced in the U.S. in the 1970s and includes bighead carp, black carp, grass carp and silver carp. Over the intervening years, the fish have spread up the Mississippi and its offshoots to states as far north as Minnesota. Asian carp are notorious for disrupting ecosystems, in part by out-competing native species and lowering water quality.
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources and the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee cautioned that the finding did not confirm that there was a larger reproducing population of Asian carp beyond the electrified barrier or in the Great Lakes.
